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of the American financiers who 
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Hitler used to launch World War Il. 














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WALL STREET AND 
THE RISE OF HITLER 


Antony C. Sutton 


PREFACE 


This is the third and final volume of a trilogy describing the role of the American corporate 
socialists, otherwise known as the Wall Street financial elite or the Eastern Liberal 
Establishment, in three significant twentieth-century historical events: the 1917 Lenin- 
Trotsky Revolution in Russia, the 1933 election of Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United 
States, and the 1933 seizure of power by Adolf Hitler in Germany. 


Each of these events introduced some variant of socialism into a major country — ie., 
Bolshevik socialism in Russia, New Deal socialism in the United States, and National 
socialism in Germany. 


Contemporary academic histories, with perhaps the sole exception of Carroll Quigley's 
Tragedy And Hope, ignore this evidence. On the other hand, it is understandable that 
universities and research organizations, dependent on financial aid from foundations that are 
controlled by this same New York financial elite, would hardly want to support and to 
publish research on these aspects of international politics. The bravest of trustees is unlikely 
to bite the hand that feeds his organization. 


It is also eminently clear from the evidence in this trilogy that "public-spirited businessmen" 
do not journey to Washington as lobbyists and administrators in order to serve the United 
States. They are in Washington to serve their own profit-maximizing interests. Their 
purpose is not to further a competitive, free-market economy, but to manipulate a 
politicized regime, call it what you will, to their own advantage. 


It is business manipulation of Hitler's accession to power in March 1933 that is the topic of 
Wall Street and the Rise of Hitler. 


ANTONY C. SUTTON 


July, 1976 


BACK 


WALL STREET AND 
THE RISE OF HITLER 


By 
Antony C. Sutton 


TABLE OF CONTENTS 


Introduction 


Unexplored Facets of Naziism 


PART ONE: Wall Street Builds Nazi Industry 


Chapter One 
Wall Street Paves the Way for Hitler 
1924: The Dawes Plan 


1928: The Young Plan 
B.LS. — The Apex of Control 


Building the German Cartels 


Chapter Two 


The Empire of I.G. Farben 


The Economic Power of I.G. Farben 
Polishing I.G. Farben's Image 
The American I.G. Farben 





Chapter Three 
General Electric Funds Hitler 


General Electric in Weimar, Germany 
General Electric & the Financing of Hitler 


Technical Cooperation with Krupp 
A.E.G. Avoids the Bombs in World War II 








Chapter Four 


Standard Oil Duels World War II 





Ethyl Lead for the Wehrmacht 
Standard Oil and Synthetic Rubber 
The Deutsche-Amerikanische Petroleum A.G. 











Chapter Five 


I.T.T. Works Both Sides of the War 





Baron Kurt von Schroder and I.T.T. 
Westrick, Texaco, and I.T.T. 
LT.T. in Wartime Germany 


PART TWO: Wall Street and Funds for Hitler 


Chapter Six 














Henry Ford and the Nazis 


Henry Ford: Hitler's First Foreign Banker 
Henry Ford Receives a Nazi Medal 
Ford Assists the German War Effort 











Chapter Seven 


Who Financed Adolf Hitler? 





Some Early Hitler Backers 

Fritz Thyssen and W.A. Harriman Company 
Financing Hitler in the March 1933 Elections 
The 1933 Political Contributions 














Chapter Eight 


Putzi: Friend of Hitler and Roosevelt 





Putzi's Role in the Reichstag Fire 
Roosevelt's New Deal and Hitler's New Order 











Chapter Nine 


Wall Street and the Nazi Inner Circle 





The S.S. Circle of Friends 
LG. Farben and the Keppler Circle 
Wall Street and the S.S. Circle 











Chapter Ten 





The Myth of ''Sidney Warburg" 


Who Was "Sidney Warburg"? 
Synopsis of the Suppressed "Warburg" Book 
James Paul Warbur's Affidavit 
Some Conclusions from the "Warburg" Story 














Chapter Eleven 


Wall Street-Nazi Collaboration in World War II 





American I.G. in World War II 
Were American Industrialists and Financiers 


Guilty of War Crimes? 








Chapter Twelve 
Conclusions 


The Pervasive Influence of International Bankers 
Is the United States Ruled by a Dictatorial Elite? 
The New York Elite as a Subversive Force 

The Slowly Emerging Revisionist Truth 














Appendix A 


Program of the National Socialist German 
Workers Party 





Appendix B 


Affidavit of Hjalmar Schacht 





Appendix C 


Entries in the "National Trusteeship" Account 








Appendix D 


Letter from the U.S. War Department to 
Ethyl Corporation 





Appendix E 


Extract from Morgenthau Diary (Germany) 





Bibliography 





KK KKK 


Dedicated to the memory of Floyd Paxton — 
entrepreneur, inventor, writer, and American, who 
believed in and worked for individual rights in a 
free society under the Constitution 


KK KKK 


Copyright 2000 


This work was created with the permission of Antony 
C. Sutton. 


All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be 
reproduced without written permission from the 
author, except by a reviewer who may quote brief 
passages in connection with a review. 


HTML version created in the United States of 
America by Studies in Reformed Theology 





CHAPTER ONE 


Wall Street Paves the Way for Hitler 


The Dawes Plan, adopted in August 1924, fitted perfectly into the plans of the 
German General Staffs military economists. (Testimony before United States 
Senate, Committee on Military Affairs, 1946.) 


The post-World War II Kilgore Committee of the United States Senate heard detailed 
evidence from government officials to the effect that, 


..when the Nazis came to power in 1933, they found that long strides had been 
made since 1918 in preparing Germany for war from an economic and 
industrial point of view.1 


This build-up for European war both before and after 1933 was in great part due to Wall 
Street financial assistance in the 1920s to create the German cartel system, and to technical 
assistance from well-known American firms which will be identified later, to build the 
German Wehrmacht. Whereas this financial and technical assistance is referred to as 
"accidental" or due to the "short-sightedness" of American businessmen, the evidence 
presented below strongly suggests some degree of premeditation on the part of these 
American financiers. Similar and unacceptable pleas of "accident" were made on behalf of 
American financiers and industrialists in the parallel example of building the military power 
of the Soviet Union from 1917 onwards. Yet these American capitalists were willing to 
finance and subsidize the Soviet Union while the Vietnam war was underway, knowing that 
the Soviets were supplying the other side. 


The contribution made by American capitalism to German war preparations before 1940 
can only be described as phenomenal. It was certainly crucial to German military 
capabilities. For instance, in 1934 Germany produced domestically only 300,000 tons of 
natural petroleum products and less than 800,000 tons of synthetic gasoline; the balance 
was imported. Yet, ten years later in World War II, after transfer of the Standard Oil of New 
Jersey hydrogenation patents and technology to I. G. Farben (used to produce synthetic 
gasoline from coal), Germany produced about 6 1/2 million tons of oil — of which 85 
percent (5 1/2 million tons) was synthetic oil using the Standard Oil hydrogenation process. 
Moreover, the control of synthetic oil output in Germany was held by the I. G. Farben 
subsidiary, Braunkohle-Benzin A. G., and this Farben cartel itself was created in 1926 with 
Wall Street financial assistance. 


On the other hand, the general impression left with the reader by modern historians is that 
this American technical assistance was accidental and that American industrialists were 
innocent of wrongdoing. For example, the Kilgore Committee stated: 


The United States accidentally played an important role in the technical 
arming of Germany. Although the German military planners had ordered and 
persuaded manufacturing corporations to install modern equipment for mass 


production, neither the military economists nor the corporations seem to have 
realized to the full extent what that meant. Their eyes were opened when two of 
the chief American automobile companies built plants in Germany in order to 
sell in the European market, without the handicap of ocean freight charges and 
high German tariffs. Germans were brought to Detroit to learn the techniques 
of specialized production of components, and of straight-line assembly. What 
they saw caused further reorganization and refitting of other key German war 
plants. The techniques learned in Detroit were eventually used to construct the 
dive-bombing Stukas .... At a later period I. G. Farben representatives in this 
country enabled a stream of German engineers to visit not only plane plants 
but others of military importance, in which they learned a great deal that was 
eventually used against the United States.2 


Following these observations, which emphasize the "accidental" nature of the assistance, it 
has been concluded by such academic writers as Gabriel Kolko, who is not usually a 
supporter of big business, that: 


It is almost superfluous to point out that the motives of the American firms 
bound to contracts with German concerns Were not pro. Nazi, whatever else 
they may have been.3 


Yet, Kolko to the contrary, analyses of the contemporary American business press confirm 
that business journals and newspapers were fully aware of the Nazi threat and its nature, 
while warning their business readers of German war preparations. And even Kolko admits 
that: 


The business press [in the United States] was aware, from 1935 on, that 
German prosperity was based on war preparations. More important, it was 
conscious of the fact that German industry was under the control of the Nazis 
and was being directed to serve Germany's rearmament, and the firm 
mentioned most frequently in this context was the giant chemical empire, I. G. 
Farben.4 


Further, the evidence presented below suggests that not only was an influential sector of 
American business aware of the nature of Naziism, but for its own purposes aided Naziism 
wherever possible (and profitable) —with full knowledge that the probable outcome would 
be war involving Europe and the United States. As we shall see, the pleas of innocence do 
not accord with the facts. 


1924: The Dawes Plan 


The Treaty of Versailles after World War I imposed a heavy reparations burden on defeated 
Germany. This financial burden — a real cause of the German discontent that led to 
acceptance of Hitlerism — was utilized by the international bankers for their own benefit. 
The opportunity to float profitable loans for German cartels in the United States was 
presented by the Dawes Plan and later the Young Plan. Both plans were engineered by these 
central bankers, who manned the committees for their own pecuniary advantages, and 
although technically the committees were not appointed by the U.S. Government, the plans 
were in fact approved and sponsored by the Government. 


Post-war haggling by financiers and politicians fixed German reparations at an annual fee of 
132 billion gold marks. This was about one quarter of Germany's total 1921 exports. When 
Germany was unable to make these crushing payments, France and Belgium occupied the 
Ruhr to take by force what could not be obtained voluntarily. In 1924 the Allies appointed a 
committee of bankers (headed by American banker Charles G. Dawes) to develop a 
program of reparations payments. The resulting Dawes Plan was, according to Georgetown 


University Professor of International Relations Carroll Quigley, "largely a J.P. Morgan 


production."> The Dawes Plan arranged a series of foreign loans totaling $800 million with 


their proceeds flowing to Germany. These loans are important for our story because the 
proceeds, raised for the greater part in the United States from dollar investors, were utilized 
in the mid-1920s to create and consolidate the gigantic chemical and steel combinations of 
I. G. Farben and Vereinigte Stahlwerke, respectively. These cartels not only helped Hitler to 
power in 1933; they also produced the bulk of key German war materials used in World 
War II. 


Between 1924 and 1931, under the Dawes Plan and the Young Plan, Germany paid out to 
the Allies about 86 billion marks in reparations. At the same time Germany borrowed 
abroad, mainly in the U.S., about 138 billion marks — thus making a net German payment 
of only three billion marks for reparations. Consequently, the burden of German monetary 
reparations to the Allies was actually carried by foreign subscribers to German bonds issued 
by Wall Street financial houses — at significant profits for themselves, of course. And, let it 
be noted, these firms were owned by the same financiers who periodically took off their 
banker hats and donned new ones to become "Statesmen." As "statesmen" they formulated 
the Dawes and Young Plans to "solve" the "problem" of reparations. As bankers, they 
floated the loans. As Carroll Quigley points out, 


It is worthy of note that this system was set up by the inter. national bankers 
and that the subsequent lending of other people's money to Germany was very 
profitable to these bankers.® 


Who were the New York international bankers who formed these reparations commissions? 


The 1924 Dawes Plan experts from the United States were banker Charles Dawes and 
Morgan representative Owen Young, who was president of the General Electric Company. 
Dawes was chairman of the Allied Committee of Experts in 1924. In 1929 Owen Young 
became chairman of the Committee of Experts, supported by J.P. Morgan himself, with 
alternates T. W. Lamont, a Morgan partner, and T. N. Perkins, a banker with Morgan 
associations. In other words, the U.S. delegations were purely and simply, as Quigley has 
pointed out, J. P. Morgan delegations using the authority and seal of the United States to 
promote financial plans for their own pecuniary advantage. As a result, as Quigley puts it, 


the "international bankers sat in heaven, under a rain of fees and commissions."7 


The German members of the Committee of Experts were equally interesting. In 1924 
Hjalmar Schacht was president of the Reichsbank and had taken a prominent role in 
organization work for the Dawes Plan; so did German banker Carl Melchior. One of the 
1928 German delegates was A. Voegler of the German steel cartel Stahlwerke Vereinigte. 
In brief, the two significant countries involved — the United States and Germany — were 
represented by the Morgan bankers on one side and Schacht and Voegler on the other, both 
of whom were key characters in the rise of Hitler's Germany and subsequent German 
rearmament. 


Finally, the members and advisors of the Dawes and Young Commissions were not only 
associated with New York financial houses but, as we shall later see, were directors of firms 
within the German cartels which aided Hitler to power. 


1928: The Young Plan 


According to Hitler's financial genie, Hjalmar Horace Greeley Schacht, and Nazi 
industrialist Fritz Thyssen, it was the 1928 Young Plan (the successor to the Dawes Plan), 
formulated by Morgan agent Owen D. Young, that brought Hitler to power in 1933. 


Fritz Thyssen claims that, 


I turned to the National Socialist Party only after I became convinced that the 
fight against the Young Plan was unavoidable if complete collapse of Germany 
was to be prevented.8 


The difference between the Young Plan and the Dawes Plan was that, while the Young Plan 
required payments in goods produced in Germany financed by foreign loans, the Young 
Plan required monetary payments and "In my judgment [wrote Thyssen] the financial debt 
thus created was bound to disrupt the entire economy of the Reich." 


The Young Plan was assertedly a device to occupy Germany with American capital and 
pledge German real assets for a gigantic mortgage held in the United States. It is noteworthy 
that German firms with U.S. affiliations evaded the Plan by the device of temporary foreign 
ownership. For instance, A.E.G. (German General Electric), affiliated with General Electric 
in the U.S., was sold to a Franco-Belgian holding company and evaded the conditions of the 
Young Plan. It should be noted in passing that Owen Young was the major financial backer 
for Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United European venture when FDR, as a budding Wall 
Street financier, endeavoured to take advantage of Germany's 1925 hyperinflation. The 
United European venture was a vehicle to speculate and to profit upon the imposition of the 
Dawes Plan, and is clear evidence of private financiers (including Franklin D. Roosevelt) 
using the power of the state to advance their own interests by manipulating foreign policy. 


Schacht's parallel charge that Owen Young was responsible for the rise of Hitler, while 
obviously self-serving, is recorded in a U.S. Government Intelligence report relating the 
interrogation of Dr. Fritz Thyssen in September, 1945: 


The acceptance of the Young Plan and its financial principles increased 
unemployment more and more, until about one million were unemployed. 
People were desperate. Hitler said he would do away with unemployment. The 
government in power at that time was very bad, and the situation of the people 
was getting worse. That really was the reason of the enormous success Hitler 
had in the election. When the last election came, he got about 40%.2 


However, it was Schacht, not Owen Young, who conceived the idea which later became the 
Bank for International Settlements. The actual details were worked out at a conference 
presided over by Jackson Reynolds, "one of the leading New York bankers," together with 


Melvin Traylor of the First National Bank of Chicago, Sir Charles Addis, formerly of the 


Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, and various French and German bankers.1® 


The B.I.S. was essential under the Young Plan as a means to afford a ready instrument for 
promoting international financial relations. According to his own statements, Schacht also 
gave Owen Young the idea that later became the post-World War II International Bank for 
Reconstruction and Development: 


"A bank of this kind will demand financial co-operation be, tween vanquished 
and victors that will lead to community of interests which in turn will give rise 
to mutual confidence and understanding and thus promote and ensure peace." 


I can still vividly recall the setting in which this conversation took place. Owen 
Young was seated in his armchair puffing away at his pipe, his legs 
outstretched, his keen eyes fixed unswervingly on me. As is my habit when 
propounding such arguments I was doing a quiet steady "quarter-deck" up and 
down the room. When I had finished there was a brief pause. Then his whole 
face lighted up and his resolve found utterance in the words: 


"Dr. Schacht, you gave me a wonderful idea and I am going to sell it to the 
world.11 


B.1.S. — The Apex of Control 


This interplay of ideas and cooperation between Hjalmar Sehacht in Germany and, through 
Owen Young, the J.P. Morgan interests in New York, was only one facet of a vast and 
ambitious system of cooperation and international alliance for world control. As described 
by Carroll Quigley, this system was "... nothing less than to create a world system of 
financial control, in private hands, able to dominate the political system of each country and 


the economy of the world as a whole.!? 


This feudal system worked in the 1920s, as it works today, through the medium of the 
private central bankers in each country who control the national money supply of individual 
economies. In the 1920s and 1930s, the New York Federal Reserve System, the Bank of 
England, the Reichs-bank in Germany, and the Banque de France also more or less 
influenced the political apparatus of their respective countries indirectly through control of 
the money supply and creation of the monetary environment. More direct influence was 
realized by supplying political funds to, or withdrawing support from, politicians and 
political parties. In the United States, for example, President Herbert Hoover blamed his 
1932 defeat on withdrawal of support by Wall Street and the switch of Wall Street finance 
and influence to Franklin D. Roosevelt. 


Politicians amenable to the objectives of financial capitalism, and academies prolific with 
ideas for world control useful to the international bankers, are kept in line with a system of 
rewards and penalties. In the early 1930s the guiding vehicle for this international system of 
financial and political control, called by Quigley the "apex of the system," was the Bank for 
International Settlements in Basle, Switzerland. The B.I.S. apex continued its work during 
World War II as the medium through which the bankers — who apparently were not at war 
with each other — continued a mutually beneficial exchange of ideas, information, and 
planning for the post-war world. As one writer has observed, war made no difference to the 
international bankers: 


The fact that the Bank possessed a truly international staff did, of course, 
present a highly anomalous situation in time of war. An American President 
was transacting the daily business of the Bank through a French General 
Manager, who had a German Assistant General Manager, while the Secretary- 
General was an Italian subject. Other nationals occupied other posts. These 
men were, of course, in daily personal contact with each other. Except for Mr. 
McKittrick [see infra] theft were of course situated permanently in Switzerland 
during this period and were not supposed to be subject to orders of their 
government at any time. However, the directors of the Bank remained, of 
course, in their respective countries and had no direct contact with the 
personnel of the Bank. It is alleged, however, that H. Schacht, president of the 


Reichsbank, kept a personal representative in Basle during most of this time. 


" 


It was such secret meetings, "... meetings more secret than any ever held by Royal Ark 


Masons or by any Rosicrucian Order..."!4 between the central bankers at the "apex" of 
control that so intrigued contemporary journalists, although they only rarely and briefly 
penetrated behind the mask of secrecy. 


Building the German Cartels 


A practical example of international finance operating behind the scenes to build and 
manipulate politico-economic systems is found in the German cartel system. The three 
largest loans handled by the Wall Street international bankers for German borrowers in the 
1920s under the Dawes Plan were for the benefit of three German cartels which a few years 
later aided Hitler and the Nazis to power. American financiers were directly represented on 
the boards of two of these three German cartels. This American assistance to German 
cartels has been described by James Martin as follows: "These loans for reconstruction 
became a vehicle for arrangements that did more to promote World War II than to establish 


peace after World War 1.15 


The three dominant cartels, the amounts borrowed and the Wall Street floating syndicate 
were as follows: 


Wall Street Amount Issued 
German Cartel Syndicate 
Allgemeine National City $35,000,000 
Elektrizitats- Co. 
Gesellschaft 
(A.E.G.) 
(German General 
Electric) 
Vereinigte Dillon, Read & $70,225,000 
Stahlwerke Co. 
(United Steelworks) 
American I.G. National City $30,000,000 
Chemical (1.G. Co. 


Farben) 


Looking at all the loans issued, it appears that only a handful of New York financial houses 
handled the German reparations financing. Three houses — Dillon, Read Co.; Harris, 
Forbes & Co.; and National City Company — issued almost three-quarters of the total face 
amount of the loans and reaped most of the profits: 


Participation 
in 
German 
Wall Street industrial Profits on 
Syndicate issuesin U.S. German Percent 
Manager capital market loans* of total 


Dillon, Read & Co. $241,325,000 $2.7 million 29.2 
Harris, Forbes & 186,500,000 1.4million 22.6 


Co. 

National City Co. 173,000,000 5.0 million 20.9 
Speyer & Co. 59,500,000 0.6 million 7.2 
a Higginson & 53,000,000 na 6.4 
an Co. of 41,575,000 0.2 million 5.0 
Kuhn, Loeb & Co. 37,500,000 0.2 million 4.5 


Equitable Trust Co. 34,000,000 0.3 million 4.1 





TOTAL $826,400,000 $10.4 million 99:9 


Source: See Appendix A 
*Robert R. Kuczynski, Bankers Profits from German Loans 


(Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution, 1932), p. 127. 


After the mid-1920s the two major German combines of I.G. Farben and Vereinigte 
Stahlwerke dominated the chemical and steel cartel system created by these loans. Although 
these firms. had a voting majority in the cartels for only two or three basic products, they 
were able — through control of these basics — to enforce their will throughout the cartel. 
I.G. Farben was the main producer of basic chemicals used by other combines making 
chemicals, so its economic power position cannot be measured only by its capacity to 
produce a few basic chemicals. Similarly, Vereinigte Stahlwerke, with a pig-iron capacity 
greater than that of all other German iron and steel producers combined, was able to 
exercise far more influence in the semi-finished iron and steel products cartel than its 
capacity for pig-iron production suggests. Even so the percentage output of these cartels for 
all products was significant: 


Vereinigte Stahlwerke Percent of German total 
products production in 1938 
Pig iron 50.8 
Pipes and tubes 45.5 


Heavy plate 36.0 


Explosives 35.0 

Coal tar 33.3 

Bar steel 37.1 

Percent of German total 

I.G. Farben production in 1937 

Synthetic methanol 100.0 

Magnesium 100.0 

Chemical nitrogen 70.0 

Explosives 60.0 

Synthetic gasoline 46.0 (1945) 

(high octane) 

Brown coal 20.0 


Among the products that brought I.G. Farben and Vereinigte Stahlwerke into mutual 
collaboration were coal tar and chemical nitrogen, both of prime importance for the 
manufacture of explosives. I. G. Farben had a cartel position that assured dominance in the 
manufacture and sale of chemical nitrogen, but had only about one percent of the cok-ing 
capacity of Germany. Hence an agreement was made under which Farben explosives 
subsidiaries obtained their benzol, toluol, and other primary coal-tar products on terms 
dictated by Vereinigte Stahlwerke, while Vereinigte Stahlwerke's explosives subsidiary was 
dependent for its nitrates on terms set by Farben. Under this system of mutual collaboration 
and inter-dependence, the two cartels, I.G. Farben and Vereinigte Stahlwerke, produced 95 
percent of German .explosives in 1957-8 on the eve of World War II. This production was 
from capacity built by American loans and to some extent by American technology. 


The I. G. Farben-Standard Oil cooperation for production of synthetic oil from coal gave the 
I. G. Farben cartel a monopoly of German gasoline production during World War II. Just 
under one half of German high octane gasoline in 1945 was produced directly by I. G. 
Farben and most of the balance by its affiliated companies. 


In brief, in synthetic gasoline and explosives (two of the very basic elements of modern 
warfare), the control of German World War II output was in the hands of two German 
combines created by Wall Street loans under the Dawes Plan. 


Moreover, American assistance to Nazi war efforts extended into other areas.17 The two 
largest tank producers in Hitler's Germany were Opel, a wholly owned subsidiary of 
General Motors (controlled by the J.P. Morgan firm), and the Ford A. G. subsidiary of the 
Ford Motor Company of Detroit. The Nazis granted tax-exempt status to Opel in 1936, to 
enable General Motors to expand its production facilities. General Motors obligingly 
reinvested the resulting profits into German industry. Henry Ford was decorated by the 
Nazis for his services to Naziism. (See p. 93.) Alcoa and Dow Chemical worked closely 
with Nazi industry with numerous transfers of their domestic U.S. technology. Bendix 


Aviation, in which the J.P. Morgan-controlled General Motors firm had a major stock 
interest, supplied Siemens & Halske A. G. in Germany with data on automatic pilots and 
aircraft instruments. As late as 1940, in the "unofficial war," Bendix Aviation supplied 
complete technical data to Robert Bosch for aircraft and diesel engine starters and received 
royalty payments in return. 


In brief, American companies associated with the Morgan-Rockefeller international 
investment bankers — not, it should be noted, the vast bulk of independent American 
industrialists — were intimately related to the growth of Nazi industry. It is important to 
note as we develop our story that General Motors, Ford, General Electric, DuPont and the 
handful of U.S. companies intimately involved with the development of Nazi Germany 
were — except for the Ford Motor Company — controlled by the Wall Street elite — the 
J.P. Morgan firm, the Rockefeller Chase Bank and to a lesser extent the Warburg Manhattan 


bank.'® This book is not an indictment of all American industry and finance. It is an 
indictment of the "apex" — those firms controlled through the handful of financial houses, 
the Federal Reserve Bank system, the Bank for International Settlements, and their 
continuing international cooperative arrangements and cartels which attempt to control the 
course of world politics and economics. 


Footnotes: 


‘United States Congress. Senate. Hearings before a Subcommittee of the 
Committee on Military Affairs. Elimination of German Resources for War. 
Report pursuant to S. Res. 107 and 146, July 2, 1945, Part 7, (78th Congress 
and 79th Congress), (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1945), 
hereafter cited as Elimination of German Resources. 


?Elimination of German Resources, p. 174. 


3Gabriel Kolko, "American Business and Germany, 1930-1941," The Western 
Political Quarterly, Volume XV, 1962. 


‘Ibid, p. 715. 

Carroll Quigley, op. cit. 

Ibid, p. 308. 

7Carroll Quigley, op. cit., p. 309. 

SFritz Thyssen, / Paid Hitler, (New York: Farrar & Rinehart, Inc., n.d.), p. 88. 


U.S. Group Control Council (Germany), Office of the Director of Intelligence, 
Intelligence Report No. EF/ME/1, 4 September 1945. Also see Hjalmar 
Schacht, Confessions of "the old Wizard", (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1956) 


Hjalmar Schacht, op cit., p. 18. Fritz Thyssen adds, "Even at the time Mr, 


Dillon, a New York Banker of Jewish origin whom I much admire told me 'In 
your place I would not sign the plan." 


lbid, p. 282. 
Carroll Quigley, op. cit., p. 324. 


Henry H. Schloss, The Bank for International Settlements (Amsterdam,: 
North Holland Publishing Company, 1958) 


14John Hargrave, Montagu Norman, (New York: The Greystone Press, n.d.). p. 
108. 


'SJames Stewart Martin, op. cit., p. 70. 
l6See Chapter Seven for more details of Wall Street loans to German industry. 
See Gabriel Kolko, op. cit., for numerous examples. 


'8T 1956 the Chase and Manhattan banks merged to become Chase Manhattan. 


BACK 


CHAPTER TWO 


The Empire of |.G. Farben 


Farben was Hitler and Hitler was Farben. (Senator Homer T. Bone to Senate 
Committee on Military Affairs, June 4, 1943.) 


On the eve of World War I the German chemical complex of I.G. Farben was the largest 
chemical manufacturing enterprise in the world, with extraordinary political and economic 


power and influence within the Hitlerian Nazi state. I. G. has been aptly described as "a 
state within a state." 


The Farben cartel dated from 1925, when organizing genius Hermann Schmitz (with Wall 
Street financial assistance) created the super-giant chemical enterprise out of six already 
giant German chemical companies — Badische Anilin, Bayer, Agfa, Hoechst, Weiler-ter- 
Meer, and Griesheim-Elektron. These companies were merged to become Inter-nationale 
Gesellschaft Farbenindustrie A.G. — or I.G. Farben for short. Twenty years later the same 
Hermann Schmitz was put on trial at Nuremburg for war crimes committed by the I. G. 
cartel. Other I. G. Farben directors were placed on trial but the American affiliates of I. G. 
Farben and the American directors of I. G. itself were quietly forgotten; the truth was buried 
in the archives. 


It is these U.S. connections in Wall Street that concern us. Without the capital supplied by 
Wall Street, there would have been no I. G. Farben in the first place and almost certainly no 
Adolf Hitler and World War II. 


German bankers on the Farben Aufsichsrat (the supervisory Board of Directors)! in the late 
1920s included the Hamburg banker Max War-burg, whose brother Paul Warburg was a 
founder of the Federal Reserve System in the United States. Not coincidentally, Paul 
Warburg was also on the board of American I. G., Farben's wholly owned U.S. subsidiary. 
In addition to Max Warburg and Hermann Schmitz, the guiding hand in the creation of the 
Farben empire, the early Farben Vorstand included Carl Bosch, Fritz ter Meer, Kurt 


Oppenheim and George von Schnitzler.2 All except Max Warburg were charged as "war 
criminals" after World War I. 


In 1928 the American holdings of I. G. Farben (i.e., the Bayer Company, General Aniline 
Works, Agfa Ansco, and Winthrop Chemical Company) were organized into a Swiss 
holding company, i. G. Chemic (Inter-nationale Gesellschaft fur Chemisehe 
Unternehmungen A. G.), controlled by I. G. Farben in Germany. In the following year these 
American firms merged to become American I. G. Chemical Corporation, later renamed 
General Aniline & Film. Hermann Schmitz, the organizer of I. G. Farben in 1925, became a 
prominent early Nazi and supporter of Hitler, as well as chairman of the Swiss I. G. Chemic 
and president of American I. G. The Farben complex both in Germany and the United 
States then developed into an integral part of the formation and operation of the Nazi state 
machine, the Wehrmacht and the S.S. 


I. G. Farben is of peculiar interest in the formation of the Nazi state because Farben 
directors materially helped. Hitler and the Nazis to power in 1933. We have photographic 
evidence (see page 60) that I.G. Farben contributed 400,000 RM to Hitler's political "slush 
fund." It was this secret fund which financed the Nazi seizure of control in March 1933. 
Many years earlier Farben had obtained Wall Street funds for the 1925 cartelization and 
expansion in Germany and $30 million for American I. G. in 1929, and had Wall Street 
directors on the Farben board. It has to be noted that these funds were raised and directors 
appointed years before Hitler was promoted as the German dictator. 


The Economic Power of I. G. Farben 


Qualified observers have argued that Germany could not have gone to war in 1939 without 
I. G. Farben. Between 1927 and the beginning of World War II, I.G. Farben doubled in size, 
an expansion made possible in great part by American technical assistance and by American 
bond issues, such as the one for $30 million offered by National City Bank. By 1939 I. G. 
acquired a participation and managerial influence in some 380 other German firms and over 
500 foreign firms. The Farben empire owned its own coal mines, its own electric power 
plants, iron and steel units, banks, research units, and numerous commercial enterprises. 
There were over 2,000 cartel agreements between I. G. and foreign firms — including 
Standard Oil of New Jersey, DuPont, Alcoa, Dow Chemical, and others in the United 
States, The full story of I,G, Farben and its world-wide ae-tivities before World War II can 
never be known, as key German records were destroyed in 1945 in anticipation of Allied 
victory. However, one post-war investigation by the U.S, War Department concluded that: 


Without I. G.'s immense productive facilities, its intense re. search, and vast 
international affiliations, Germany's prosecution of the war would have been 
unthinkable and impossible; Farben not only directed its energies toward 
arming Germany, but concentrated on weakening her intended victims, and this 
double-barreled attempt to expand the German industrial potential for war and 
to restrict that of the rest of the world was not conceived and executed "in the 
normal course of business." The proof is overwhelming that I. G. Farben 
Officials had full prior knowledge of Germany's plan for world conquest and of 
each specific aggressive act later undertaken ....3 


Directors of Farben firms (i.e., the "I. G. Farben officials" referred to in the investigation) 
included not only Germans but also prominent American financiers. This 1945 U.S. War 
Department report concluded that I.G.'s assignment from Hitler in the prewar period was to 
make Germany self-sufficient in rubber, gasoline, lubricating oils, magnesium, fibers, 
tanning agents, fats, and explosives. To fulfill this critical assignment, vast sums were spent 
by LG. on processes to extract these war materials from indigenous German raw materials - 
in particular the plentiful German coal resources. Where these processes could not be 
developed in Germany ,they were acquired from abroad under cartel arrangements. For 
example, the process for iso-octane, essential for aviation fuels, was obtained from the 
United States, 


... In fact entirely [from] the Americans and has become known to us in detail 
in its separate stages through our agreements with them [Standard Oil of New 
Jersey] and is being used very extensively by us.4 


The process for manufacturing tetra-ethyl lead? essential for aviation gasoline, was obtained 
by I. G. Farben from the United States, and in 1939 I.G. was sold $20 million of high-grade 
aviation gasoline by Standard Oil of New Jersey. Even before Germany manufactured tetra- 
ethyl lead by the American process it was able to "borrow" 500 tons from the Ethyl 
Corporation. This loan of vital tetra-ethyl lead was not repaid and I.G. forfeited the $1 
million security. Further, I.G. purchased large stocks of magnesium from Dow Chemical for 
incendiary bombs and stockpiled explosives, stabilizers, phosphorus, and cyanides from the 
outside world. 


In 1939, out of 43 major products manufactured by I.G., 28 were of "primary concern" to 
the German armed forces. Farben's ultimate control of the German war economy, acquired 
during the 1920s and 1930s with Wall Street assistance, can best be assessed by examining 
the percentage of German war material output produced by Farben plants in 1945. Farben at 
that time produced 100 percent of German synthetic rubber, 95 percent of German poison 
gas (including all the Zyklon B gas used in the concentration camps), 90 percent of German 
plastics, 88 percent of German magnesium, 84 percent of German explosives, 70 percent of 
German gunpowder, 46 percent of German high octane (aviation) gasoline, and 33 percent 


of German synthetic gasoline.> (See Chart 2-1 and Table 2-1.) 


Table 2-1: German Army (Wehrmacht) Dependence on 1.G. 
Farben Production (1943): 


Percent Produced 


Total German by 
Product Production I.G. Farben 

Synthetic Rubber 118,600 tons 100 
Methanol 251,000 tons 100 
Lubricating Oil 60,000 tons 100 
Dyestuffs 31,670 tons 98 
Poison Gas — 95 
Nickel 2,000 tons 95 
Plastics 57,000 tons 90 
Magnesium 27,400 tons 88 
Explosives 221,000 tons 84 
Gunpowder 210,000 tons 70 
High Octane 
(Aviation) 650,000 tons 46 
Gasoline 
Sulfuric Acid 707,000 tons 35 


Chart 2-1: German Army (Wehrmacht) Dependence on I.G. Farben Production 
(1943) 


Dr. von Schnitzler, of the I.G. Farben Aufsichsrat, made the following pertinent statement 


in 1943: 


It is no exaggeration to say that without the services of German chemistry 
performed under the Four Year Plan the prosecution of modern war would 
have been unthinkable.6 


Unfortunately, when we probe the technical origins of the more important of these military 
materials — quite apart from financial Support for Hitler — we find links to American 
industry and to American businessmen. There were numerous Farben arrangements with 
American firms, including cartel marketing arrangements, patent agreements, and technical 
exchanges as exemplified in the Standard Oil-Ethyl technology transfers mentioned above. 
These arrangements were used by I.G. to advance Nazi policy abroad, to collect strategic 
information, and to consolidate a world-wide chemical cartel. 


One of the more horrifying aspects of I.G. Farben's cartel was the invention, production, 
and distribution of the Zyklon B gas, used in Nazi concentration camps. Zyklon B was pure 
Prussic acid, a lethal poison produced by I.G. Farben Leverkusen and sold from the Bayer 
sales office through Degesch, an independent license holder. Sales of Zyklon B amounted to 
almost three-quarters of Degesch business; enough gas to kill 200 million humans was 
produced and sold by I.G. Farben. The Kilgore Committee report of 1942 makes it clear that 
the I.G. Farben directors had precise knowledge of the Nazi concentration camps and the 
use of I.G. chemicals. This prior knowledge becomes significant when we later consider the 
role of the American directors in I.G.'s American subsidiary. The 1945 interrogation of I.G. 
Farben director yon Schnitzler reads: 


Q. What did you do when they told you that I.G. chemicals was /sic] being 
used to kill, to murder people held in concentration camps? 


A. I was horrified. 

Q. Did you do anything about it? 

A. I kept it for me [to myself] because it was too terrible .... I asked Muller- 
Cunradi is it known to you and Ambros and other directors in Auschwitz that 


the gases and chemicals are being used to murder people. 


Q. What did he say? 


A. Yes: it is known to all I.G. directors in Auschwitz. 1 


There was no attempt by I.G. Farben to halt production of the gases — a rather ineffective 
way for von Schnitzler to express any concern for human life, "because it was too terrible." 


The Berlin N.W. 7 office of I.G. Farben was the key Nazi overseas espionage center. The 
unit operated under Farben director Max Ilgner, nephew of I.G. Farben president Hermann 
Schmitz. Max Ilgner and Hermann Schmitz were on the board of American I.G., with 
fellow directors Henry Ford of Ford Motor Company, Paul Warburg of Bank of Manhattan, 
and Charles E. Mitchell of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. 


At the outbreak o£ war in 1939 VOWI employees were ordered into the Wehrmacht but in 


fact continued to perform the same work as when nominally under I.G. Farben. One of the 
more prominent of these Farben intelligence workers in N.W. 7 was Prince Bernhard of the 
Netherlands, who joined Farben in the early 1930s after completion of an 18-month period 


of service in the black-uniformed S.S.3 


The U.S. arm of the VOWI intelligence network was Chemnyco, Inc. According to the War 
Department, 


Utilizing normal business contacts Chemnyco was able to transmit to Germany 
tremendous amounts of material ranging from photographs and blueprints to 
detailed descriptions of whole industrial plants.9 


Chemnyco's vice president in New York was Rudolph Ilgner, an American citizen and 
brother of American I, G. Farben director Max Ilgner. In brief, Farben operated VOWI, the 
Nazi foreign intelligence operation, before World War II and the VOWI operation was 
associated with prominent members of the Wall Street Establishment through American 
I.G. and Chemnyco. 


The U.S. War Department also accused LG. Farben and its American associates of 
spearheading Nazi psychological and economic warfare programs through dissemination of 
propaganda via Farben agents abroad, and of providing foreign exchange for this Nazi 
propaganda. Farben's cartel arrangements promoted Nazi economic warfare — the 
outstanding example being the voluntary Standard Oil of New Jersey restriction on 
development of synthetic rubber in the United States at the behest of I. G. Farben. As the 
War Department report puts it: 


The story in short is that because of Standard Oil's determination to maintain 
an absolute monopoly of synthetic rubber developments in the United States, it 
fully accomplished I.G.'s purpose of preventing United States production by 
dissuading American rubber companies from undertaking independent 
research in developing synthetic rubber processes.10 


In 1945 Dr. Oskar Loehr, deputy head of the I.G. "Tea Buro," confirmed that I. G. Farben 
and Standard Oil of New Jersey operated a "preconceived plan" to suppress development of 
the synthetic rubber industry in the United States, to the advantage of the German 
Wehrmacht and to the disadvantage of the United States in World War II. 


Dr. Loehr's testimony reads (in part) as follows: 
Q. Is it true that while the delay in divulging the buna [synthetic rubber] 
processes to American rubber companies was taking place, Chemnyco and 
Jasco were in the meantime keeping I.G. well informed in regard to synthetic 
rubber development in the U.S.? 


A. Yes. 


Q. So that at all times I.G. was fully aware of the state of the development of 
the American synthetic rubber industry? 


A. Yes. 


Q. Were you present at the Hague meeting when Mr. Howard [of Standard Oil] 
went there in 1939? 


A. No. 
Q. Who was present? 


A. Mr. Ringer, who was accompanied by Dr. Brown of Ludwigshafen. Did 
they tell you about the negotiations? 


A. Yes, as far as they were on the buna part of it. 


Q. Is it true that Mr. Howard told LG. at this meeting that the developments in 
the U.S. had reached such a stage that it would no longer be possible for him to 
keep the information in regard to the buna processes from the American 
companies? 


A. Mr. Ringer reported it. 


Q. Was it at that meeting that for the first time Mr. Howard told I.G. the 
American rubber companies might have to be informed of the processes and he 
assured I.G. that Standard Oil would control the synthetic rubber industry in the 
U.S.? Is that right? 


A. That is right. That is the knowledge I got through Mr. Ringer. 


Q. So that in all these arrangements since the beginning of the development of 
the synthetic rubber industry the suppression of the synthetic rubber industry in 
the U.S. was part of a preconceived plan between I.G. on the one hand and Mr. 
Howard of Standard Oil on the other? 


A. That is a conclusion that must be drawn from the previous facts. 4 


I.G. Farben was pre-war Germany's largest earner of foreign exchange, and this foreign 
exchange enabled Germany to purchase strategic raw materials, military equipment, and 
technical processes, and to finance its overseas programs of espionage, propaganda, and 
varied military and political activities preceding World War II. Acting on behalf of the Nazi 
state, Farben broadened its own horizon to a world scale which maintained close relations 
with the Nazi regime and the Wehrmaeht. A liaison office, the Vermittlungsstelle W, was 
established to maintain communications between I.G. Farben and the German Ministry of 
War: 


The aim of this work is the building up o.[ a tight organ izatton for armament 
in the I.G. which could be inserted without difficulty in the existing 
organization of the I.G. and the individual plants. In the case of war, I.G. will 
be treated by the authorities concerned with armament questions as one big 
plant which, in its task for the armament, as far as it is possible to do so from 
the technical point of view, will regulate itself without any organizational 
influence from outside (the work in this direction was in principle agreed upon 
with the Ministry of War Wehrwirtschaftsant) and from this office with the 


Ministry of Economy. To the field of the work of the Vermittlungsstelle W 
belongs, besides the organizational set-up and long-range planning, the 
continuous collaboration with regard to the armament and technical questions 


with the authorities of the Reich and with the plants of the I. G2 


Unfortunately the files of the Vermittlungsstelle offices were destroyed prior to the end of 
the war, although it is known from other sources that from 1934 onwards a complex 
network of transactions evolved between I.G. and the Wehrmacht. In 1934 I. G. Farben 
began to mobilize for war, and each I.G. plant prepared its war production plans and 
submitted the plans to the Ministries of War and Economics. By 1935-6 war games were 


being held at I.G. Farben plants and wartime technical procedures rehearsed.!? These war 
games were described by Dr. Struss, head of the Secretariat of I.G.'s Technical Committee: 


It is true that since 1934 or 1935, soon after the establishment of the 
Vermittlungsstelle W in the different works, theoretical war plant games had 
been arranged to examine how the effect of bombing on certain factories would 
materialize. It was particularly taken into consideration what would happen if 
100- or 500-kilogram bombs would fall on a certain factory and what would be 
the result of it. It is also right that the word Kriegsspiele was used for it. 


The Kriegsspiele were prepared by Mr. Ritter and Dr. Eckell, later on partly by 
Dr. yon Brunning by personal order on Dr. Krauch's own initiative or by order 
of the Air Force, it is not known to me. The tasks were partly given by the 
Vermittlung-sstelle W and partly by officers of the Air Force. A number of 
officers of all groups of the Wehrmacht (Navy, Air Force, and Army) 
participated in these Kriegsspiele. 


The places which were hit by bombs were marked in a map of the plant so that 
it could be ascertained which parts of the plant were damaged, for example a 
gas meter or an important pipe line. As soon as the raid finished, the 
management of the plant ascertained the damages and reported which part of 
the plant had to stop working; they further reported what time would be 
required in order to repair the damages. In a following meeting the 
consequences of the Kriegsspiele were described and it was ascertained that in 
the case of Leuna [plant] the damages involved were considerably high; 


especially it was found out that alterations of the pipe lines were to be made at 


considerable cost.“ 


Consequently, throughout the 1930s I. G. Farben did more than just comply with orders 
from the Nazi regime. Farben was an initiator and operator for the Nazi plans for world 
conquest. Farben acted as a research and intelligence organization for the German Army 
and voluntarily initiated Wehrmacht projects. In fact the Army only rarely had to approach 
Farben; it is estimated that about 40 to 50 percent of Farben projects for the Army were 
initiated by Farben itself. In brief, in the words of Dr, von Schnitzler: 


Thus, in acting as it had done, I.G. contracted a great responsibility and 
constituted a substantial aid in the chemical domain and decisive help to 
Hitler's foreign policy, which led to war and to the ruin of Germany. Thus, I 
must conclude that I.G. is largely responsible for Hitler's policy, 


Polishing I. G. Farben's Public Image 


This miserable picture of pre-war military preparation was known abroad and had to be sold 
— or disguised — to the American public in order to facilitate Wall Street fund-raising and 
technical assistance on behalf of I. G. Farben in the United States. A prominent New York 
public relations firm was chosen for the job of selling the I.G. Farben combine to America. 
The most notable public relations firm in the late 1920s and 1930s was Ivy Lee & T.J. Ross 
of New York. Ivy Lee had previously undertaken a public relations campaign for the 
Rockefellers, to spruce up the Rockefeller name among the American public. The firm had 
also produced a syncophantic book entitled USSR, undertaking the same clean-up task for 
the Soviet Union — even while Soviet labor camps were in full blast in the late 20s and 
early 30s. 


From 1929 onwards Ivy Lee became public relations counsel for I. G. Farben in the United 
States. In 1934 Ivy Lee presented testimony to the House Un-American Activities 


Committee on this work for Farben.!> Lee testified that I.G. Farben was affiliated with the 
American Farben firm and "The American I.G. is a holding company with directors such 
people as Edsel Ford, Walter Teagle, one of the officers of the City Bank .... " Lee 
explained that he was paid $25,000 per year under a contract made with Max Ilgner of I.G. 
Farben. His job was to counter criticism levelled at I.G. Farben within the United States. 
The advice given by Ivy Lee to Farben on this problem was acceptable enough: 


In the first place, I have told them that they could never in the world get the 
American people reconciled to their treatment of the Jews: that that was just 
foreign to the American mentality and could never be justified in the American 
public opinion, and there was no use trying. 


In the second place, anything that savored of Nazi propaganda in this country 
was a mistake and ought not to be under. taken. Our people regard it as 
meddling with American affairs, and it was bad business.16 


The initial payment of $4,500 to Ivy Lee under this contract was made by Hermann 
Schmitz, chairman of I.G. Farben in Germany. It was deposited in the New York Trust 
Company under the name of I. G. Chemic (or the "Swiss I.G.," as Ivy Lee termed it). 
However, the second and major payment of $14,450 was made by William von Rath of the 
American I.G. and also deposited by Ivy Lee in New York Trust Company, for the credit of 
his personal account. (The firm account was at the Chase Bank.) This point about the origin 
of the funds is 'important when we consider the identity of directors of American I.G., 
because payment by American I.G. meant that the bulk of the Nazi propaganda funds were 
not of German origin. They were American funds earned in the U.S. and under control of 
American directors, although used for Nazi propaganda in the United States. 


In other words, most of the Nazi propaganda funds handled by Ivy Lee were not imported 
from Germany. 


The use to which these American funds were put was brought out under questioning by the 
House Un-American Activities Committee: 


Mr. DICKSTEIN. As I understand you, you testified that you received no 


propaganda at all, and that you had nothing to do with the distribution of 
propaganda in this country? 


Mr. LEE. I did not testify I received none Mr. Dickstein. 
Mr. DICKSTEIN. I will eliminate that part of the question, then. 
Mr. LEE. I testified that I disseminated none whatever. 


Mr. DICKSTEIN. Have you received or has your firm received any propaganda 
literature from Germany at any time? 


Mr. LEE. Yes, sir. 
Mr. DICKSTEIN. And when was that? 


Mr. LEE. Oh, we have received — it is a question of what you call propaganda. 
We have received an immense amount of literature. 


Mr. DICKSTEIN. You do not know what that literature was and what it 
contained? 


Mr. LEE. We have received books and pamphlets and newspaper clippings and 
documents, world without end. 


Mr. DICKSTEIN. I assume someone in your office would go over them and 
see what they were? 


Mr. LEE. Yes, sir. 


Mr. DICKSTEIN. And then after you found out what they were, I assume you 
kept copies of them? 


Mr. LEE. In some cases, yes: and in some, no. A great many of them, of 
course, were in German, and I had what my son sent me. He said they were 
interesting and significant, and those I had translated or excerpts of them 


made.1Z 


Finally, Ivy Lee employed Burnham Carter to study American new paper reports on 
Germany and prepare suitable pro-Nazi replies. It should be noted that this German 
literature was not Farben literature, it was official Hitler literature: 


Mr. DICKSTEIN. In other words, you receive this material that deals with 
German conditions today: You examine it and you advise them. It has nothing 
to do with the German Government, although the material, the literature, is 
official literature of the Hitler regime. That is correct, is it not? 


Mr. LEE. Well, a good deal of the literature was not official. 


Mr. DICKSTEIN. It was not 1.G. literature, was it? 


Mr. LEE. No; 1.G. sent it to me. 


Mr. DICKSTEIN. Can you show us one scrap of paper that came in here that 
had anything to do with the I.G.? 


Mr. LEE. Oh, yes. They issue a good deal of literature. But I do not want to beg 
the question. There is no question whatever that under their authority I have 
received an immense amount of material that came from official and unofficial 
sources. 


Mr. DICKSTEIN. Exactly. In other words, the material that was sent here by 
the I.G. was material spread — we would call it propaganda t by authority of 
the German Government. But the distinction that you make in your statement 
is, as I take it, that the German Government did not send it to you directly; that 
it was sent to you by the I.G. 


Mr. LEE. Right. 


Mr. DICKSTEIN. And it had nothing to do with their business relations just 
now. 


Mr. LEE. That is correct. 


The American I.G. Farben 


Who were the prominent Wall Street establishment financiers who directed the activities of 
American I.G., the I.G. Farben affiliate in the United States promoting Nazi propaganda? 


American IG. Farben directors included some of the more prominent members of Wall 
Street. German interests re-entered the United States after World War I, and successfully 
overcame barriers designed to keep I.G. out of the American market. Neither seizure of 
German patents, establishment of the Chemical Foundation, nor high tariff walls were a 
major problem. 


By 1925, General Dyestuff Corporation was established as the exclusive selling agent for 
products manufactured by Gasselli Dyestuff (renamed General Aniline Works, Inc., in 
1929) and imported from Germany. The stock of General Aniline Works was transferred in 
1929 to American I.G. Chemical Corporation and later in 1939 to General Aniline & Film 
Corporation, into which American I.G. and General Aniline Works were merged. American 
I.G. and its successor, General Aniline & Film, is the unit through which control of I.G.'s 
enterprises in the U.S. was maintained. The stock authorization of American I.G. was 
3,000,000 common A 


shares and 3,000,000 common B shares. In return for stock interests in General Aniline 
Works and Agfa-Ansco Corporation, I.G. Farben in Germany received all the B shares and 
400,000 A shares. Thirty million dollars of convertible bonds were sold to the American 
public and guaranteed as to principal and interest by the German I.G. Farben, which 
received an option to purchase an additional 1,000,000 A shares. 


Table 2-2: The Directors of American I.G. at 1930: 


American I,G. 


Director Citizenship 
Carl BOSCH German 
Edsel B. FORD USS. 
Max ILGNER German 
F. Ter MEER German 
H.A. METZ USS. 
C.E. MITCHELL U.S. 
Herman German 
SCHMITZ 
Walter TEAGLE U.S. 

W.H. yon Naturalized 
RATH 

Paul M. U.S. 
WARBURG 

W.E. WEISS U.S. 


Other Major Associations 
FORD MOTOR CO. A-G 


FORD MOTOR CO. 
DETROIT 


Directed I.G. FARBEN 
N.W.7 (INTELLIGENCE) 
office. Guilty at Nuremberg 
War Crimes Trials. 


Guilty at Nuremberg War 
Crimes Trials 


Director of I.G. Farben 
Germany and BANK OF 
MANHATTAN (U.S.) 


Director of FEDERAL 
RESERVE BANK OF NY. 
and NATIONAL CITY BANK 


On boards of I.G. Farben 
(President) (Germany) 
Deutsche Bank (Germany) and 
BANK FOR 
INTERNATIONAL 
SETTLEMENTS. Guilty at 
Nuremberg War Crimes Trials. 


Director FEDERAL 
RESERVE BANK OF NEW 
YORK and STANDARD OIL 
OF NEW JERSEY 


Director of GERMAN 
GENERAL U.S. ELECTRIC 
(A.E.G.) 

First member of the 
FEDERAL RESERVE BANK 
OF NEW YORK and BANK 
OF MANHATTAN 


Sterling Products 


Source: Moody's Manual of Investments; 1930, p. 2149. 


Note: Walter DUISBERG (U.S.), W. GRIEF (U.S.), and Adolf 
KUTTROFF (U.S.) were also Directors of American I.G. Farben 


at this period. 


The management of American I.G. (later General Aniline) was dominated by I.G. or former 
I.G. officials. (See Table 9..9..) Hermann Schmitz served as president from 1929 to 1936 
and was then succeeded by his brother, Dietrich A. Schmitz, a naturalized American citizen, 


until 1941. Hermann Schmitz, who was also a director of the bank for International 
Settlements, the "apex" of the international financial control system. He remained as 
chairman of the board of directors from 1936 to 1939. 


The original board of directors included nine members who were, or had been, members o 
[ the board of I.G. Farben in Germany (Hermann Schmitz, carl Bosch, Max Ilgner, Fritz ter 
Meer, and Wilfred Grief), or had been previously employed by I.G. Farben in Germany 
(Walter Duisberg, Adolph Kuttroff, W.H. yon Rath, Herman A. Metz). Herman A. Metz 
was an American citizen, a staunch Democrat in politics and a former comptroller of the 
City of New York. A tenth, W.E. Weiss, had been under contract to I.G. 


Directors of American I.G. were not only prominent in Wall Street and American industry 
but more significantly were drawn from a few highly influential institutions: 





Federal Reserve Bank 
of New York Ford Motor Company 


Edsel B. FORD 
Carl BOSCH 


Charles E. MITCHELL 
Walter TEAGLE 
Paul M. WARBURG 






I.G. Farben 
and 
American I.G. 


Bank of Manhattan Standard Oil 
H.A. METZ of New Jersey 


Paul M. WARBURG Walter TEAGLE 





The remaining four members of the American I.G. board were prominent American citizens 
and members of the Wall Street financial elite: C.E. Mitchell, chairman of National City 
Bank and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York; Edsel B. Ford, president of Ford Motor 
Company; W.C. Teagle, another director of Standard Oil of New Jersey; and, Paul 
Warburg, first member of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and chairman of the Bank 
of Manhattan Company. 


Directors of American I.G. were not only prominent in Wall Street and American industry 
but more significantly were drawn from a few highly influential institutions. (See chart 
above.) 


Between 1929 and 1939 there were changes in the make-up of the board of American I.G. 
The number of directors varied from time to time, although a majority always had I.G. 


backgrounds or connections, and the board never had less than four American directors. In 
1939 — presumably looking ahead to World War II — an effort was made to give the board 
a more American complexion, but despite the resignation of Hermann Schmitz, Carl Bosch, 
and Walter Duisberg, and the appointment of seven new directors, seven members still 
belonged to the LG. group. This I.G. predominance increased during 1940 and 1941 as 
American directors, including Edsel Ford, realized the political unhealthiness of I.G. and 
resigned. 


Several basic observations can be made from this evidence. First, the board of American 
LG. had three directors from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the most influential of 
the various Federal Reserve Banks. American I.G. also had interlocks with Standard Oil of 
New Jersey, Ford Motor Company, Bank of Manhattan (later to become the Chase 
Manhattan), and A.E.G. (German General Electric). Second, three members of the board of 
this American I.G. were found guilty at Nuremburg War Crimes Trials. These were the 
German, not the American, members. Among these Germans was Max Ilgner, director of 
the I.G. Farben N.W. 7 office in Berlin, i.e., the Nazi pre-war intelligence office. If the 
directors of a corporation are collectively responsible for the activities of the corporation, 
then the American directors should also have been placed on trial at Nuremburg, along with 
the German directors — that is, if the purpose of the trials was to determine war guilt. Of 
course, if the purpose of the trials had been to divert attention away from the U.S. 
involvement in Hitler's rise to power, they succeeded very well in such an objective. 


Footnotes: 


'German firms have a two-tier board of directors. The Aufsichsrat concerns 
itself with overall supervision, including financial policy, while the Vorstand is 
concerned with day-to-day management. 


Taken from Der Farben-Konzern 1928, (Hoppenstedt, Berlin: 1928), pp. 4-5. 
3Elimination of German Resources, p. 943. 
Aq: 
Ibid, p. 945. 
SNew York Times, October 21, 1945, Section 1, pp. 1, 12. 
6r: 
Ibid, p. 947. 
1 Elimination of German Resources. 


SBernhard is today better known for his role as chairman of the secretive, so- 
called Bilderberger meetings. See U.S. Congress, House of Representatives, 
Special Committee on Un-American Activities, Investigation of Nazi 
Propaganda Activities and Investigation of Certain other Propaganda 
Activities. 73rd Congress, 2nd Session, Hearings No. 73-DC-4. (Washington: 
Government Printing Office, 1934), Volume VIII, p. 7525. 


“Ibid p. 949. 
10Tbid p. 952. 
!bid p. 1293. 
Ibid p. 954. 
!3[bid p. 954. 
!4bid, pp. 954-5. 


DUS. Congress. House of Representatives, Special Committee on Un- 
American Activities, Investigation of Nazi Propaganda Activities and 
Investigation of Certain Other Propaganda Activities, op. cit. 


!öfpid, p. 178. 
Tid, p. 183. 


'8Tbid, p. 188. 


BACK 


CHAPTER THREE 


General Electric Funds Hitler 


Among the early Roosevelt fascist measures was the National Industry 
Recovery Act (NRA) of June 16, 1933. The origins of this scheme are worth 
repeating. These ideas were first suggested by Gerard Swope of the General 
Electric Company ... following this they were adopted by the United States 
Chamber of Commerce .... (Herbert Hoover, The Memoirs of Herbert Hoover: 
The Great Depression, 1929-1941, New York: The Macmillan Company, 1952, 
p. 420) 


The multi-national giant General Electric has an unparalleled role in twentieth-century 
history. The General Electric Company electrified the Soviet Union in the 1920s and 1930s, 


and fulfilled for the Soviets Lenin's dictum that "Socialism = electrification."! The Swope 
Plan, created by General Electric's one-time president Gerard Swope, became Franklin D. 
Roosevelt's New Deal, by a process deplored by one-time President Herbert Hoover and 


described in Wall Street and FDR. There was a long-lasting, intimate relationship between 
Swope and Young of General Electric Company and the Roosevelt family, as there was 
between General Electric and the Soviet Union. In 1936 Senator James A. Reed of 
Missouri, an early Roosevelt supporter, became aware of Roosevelt's betrayal of liberal 
ideas and attacked the Roosevelt New Deal program as a "tyrannical" measure "leading to 
despotism, [and] sought by its sponsors under the communistic cry of 'Social Justice."" 
Senator Reed further charged on the floor of the Senate that Franklin D. Roosevelt was a 
"hired man for the economic royalists" in Wall Street and that the Roosevelt family "is one 


of the largest stockholders in the General Electric Company."2 


As we probe into behind-the-scenes German interwar history and the story of Hitler and 
Naziism, we find both Owen D. Young and Gerard Swope of General Electric tied to the 
rise of Hitlerism and the suppression of German democracy. That General Electric directors 
are to be found in each of these three distinct historical categories — 1.e., the development 
of the Soviet Union, the creation of Roosevelt's New Deal, and the rise of Hitlerism — 
suggests how elements of Big Business are keenly interested in the socialization of the 
world, for their own purposes and objectives, rather than the maintenance of the impartial 
market place in a free society.4 General Electric profited handsomely from Bolshevism, 
from Roosevelt's New Deal socialism, and, as we shall see below, from national socialism 
in Hitler's Germany. 


General Electric in Weimar Germany 


Walter Rathenau was, until his assassination in 1922, managing director of Allgemeine 
Elekrizitats Gesellschaft (A.E.G,), or German General Electric, and like Owen Young and 
Gerard Swope, his counterparts in the U.S., he was a prominent advocate of corporate 
socialism. Walter Rathenau spoke out publicly against competition and free enterprise, 


Why? Because both Rathanau and Swope wanted the protection and cooperation of the state 
for their own corporate objectives and profit. (But not of course for anybody else's 
objectives and profits.) Rathanau expressed their plea in The New Political Economy: 


The new economy will, as we have seen, be no state or governmental economy 
but a private economy committed to a civic power of resolution which certainly 
will require state cooperation for organic consolidation to overcome inner 
friction and increase production and endurance.5 


When we disentangle the turgid Rathenau prose, this means that the power of the State was 
to be made available to private firms for their own corporate purposes, i.e., what is 
popularly known as national socialism. Rathenau spoke out publicly against competition 
and free enterprise. inheritance."© Not their own wealth, so far as can be determined, but the 
wealth of others who lacked political pull in the State apparatus. 


Owen D. Young of General Electric was one of the three U.S. delegates to the 1923 Dawes 
Plan meeting which established the German reparations program. And in the Dawes and 
Young Plans we can see how some private firms were able to benefit from the power of the 
State. The largest single loans from Wall Street to Germany during the 1920s were 
reparations loans; it was ultimately the U.S. investor who paid for German reparations. The 
cartelization of the German electrical industry under A.E.G. (as well as the steel and 
chemical industries discussed in Chapters One and Two) was made possible with these Wall 
Street loans: 


Face 
Date of Managing Bank Amount 
Offering Borrower in the U.S. of Issue 
Jan. 26, 1925 Allgemeine National City Co. $10,000,000 
Elektrizitats- 
Gesellschaft (A. 
E, G.) 
Dec. 9, 1925 Allgemeine 10,000,000 
National City 
Co. 
Elektrizitats- 
Gesellschaft (A. 
E.G. ) 


May 22,1928 Allgemeine National City Co. 10,000,000 
Elektrizitats- 
Gesellschaft 
(A.E.G.) 

June 7, 1928 Allgemeine National City Co. 5,000,000 
Elektrizitats- 
Gesellschaft (A. 
E.G.) 


In 1928, at the Young Plan reparations meetings, we find General Electric president Owen 
D. Young in the chair as the chief U.S. delegate, appointed by the U.S. government to use 


U.S. government power and prestige to decide international financial matters enhancing 
Wall Street and General Electric profits. In 1930 Owen D. Young, after whom the Young 
Plan for German reparations was named, became chairman of the Board of General Electric 
Company in New York City. Young was also chairman of the Executive Committee of 
Radio Corporation of America and a director of both German General Electric (A.E.G.) and 
Osram in Germany. Young also served on the boards of other major U.S. corporations, 
including General Motors, NBC, and RKO; he was a councilor of the National Industrial 
Conference Board, a director of the International Chamber of Commerce, and deputy 
chairman of the board of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. 


Gerard Swope was president and director of General Electric Company as well as French 
and German associated companies, including A.E.G. and Osram in Germany. Swope was 
also a director of RCA, NBC, and the National City Bank of New York. Other directors of 
International General Electric at this time reflect Morgan control of the company, and both 
Young and Swope were generally known as the Morgan representatives on the G.E. board, 
which included Thomas Cochran, another partner in the J.P. Morgan firm. General Electric 
director Clark Haynes Minor was president of International General Electric in the 1920s. 
Another director was Victor M. Cutter of the First National Bank of Boston and a figure in 
the "Banana Revolutions" in Central America. 


In the late 1920s Young, Swope, and Minor of International General Electric moved into the 
German electrical industry and gained, if not control as some have reported, then at least a 
substantial say in the internal affairs of both A.E.G. and Osram. In July 1929 an agreement 
was reached between General Electric and three German firms — A.E.G., Siemens & 
Halske, and Koppel and Company — which between them owned all the shares in Osram, 
the electric bulb manufacturer. General Electric purchased 16% percent of Osram stock and 


reached a joint agreement for international control of electric bulbs production and 


marketing. Clark Minor and Gerard Swope became directors of Osram.” 


In July 1929 great interest was shown in rumors circulating in German financial circles that 
General Electric was also buying into A.E.G. and that talks to this end were in progress 


between A.E.G. and G.E.® In August it was confirmed that 14 million marks of common 
A.E.G. stock were to be issued to General Electric. These shares, added to shares bought on 
the open market, gave General Electric a 25-percent interest in A.E.G. A closer working 
agreement was signed between the two companies, providing the German company U.S. 
technology and patents. It was emphasized in the news reports that A.E.G. would not have 
participation in G.E., but that on the other hand G.E. would finance expansion of A.E.G. in 


Germany.? The German financial press also noted that there was no A.E.G. representation 
on the board of G.E. in the United States but that five Americans were now on the board of 
A.E.G. The Vossische Zeitung recorded, 


The American electrical industry has conquered the worM, and only a few of 
the remaining opposing bastions have been able to withstand the onslaught...10 


By 1930, unknown to the German financial press, General Electric had similarly gained an 
effective technical monopoly of the Soviet electrical industry and was soon to penetrate 
even the remaining bastions in Germany, particularly the Siemens group. In January 1930 
three G.E. men were elected to the board of A.E.G. — Clark H. Minor, Gerard Swope, and 
E. H. Baldwin — and International General Electric (I.G.E.) continued its moves to merge 
the world electrical industry into a giant cartel under Wall Street control. 


In February General Electric focused on the remaining German electrical giant, Siemens & 
Halske, and while able to obtain a large block of debentures issued on behalf of the German 
firm by Dillon, Read of New York, G.E. was not able to gain participation or directors on 
the Siemens board. While the German press recognized even this limited control as" an 
historical economic event of the first order and an important step toward a future world 


electric trust," Siemens retained its independence from General Electric — and this 
independence is important for our story. The New York Times reported, 


The entire press emphasizes the fact that Siemens, contrary to A.E.G., 
maintains its independence for the future and points out that no General 
Electric representative will sit on Stemen's board of directors.12 


There is no evidence that Siemens, either through Siemens & Halske or Siemens-Schukert, 
participated directly in the financing of Hitler. Siemens contributed to Hitler only slightly 
and indirectly through a share participation in Osram. On the other hand, both A.E.G. and 
Osram directly financed Hitler through the Nationale Treuhand in substantial ways. 
Siemens retained its independence in the early 1930s while both A.E.G. and Osram were 
under American dominance and with American directors. There is no evidence that 
Siemens, without American directors, financed Hitler. On the other hand, we have 
irrefutable documentary evidence (see page 56) that both German General Electric and 
Osram, both with American directors, financed Hitler. 


In the months following the attempted Wall Street take over of Siemens, the pattern of a 
developing world trust in the electrical industry clarified; there was an end to international 


patent fights and the G.E. interest in A.E.G. increased to nearly 30 percent./3 


Consequently, in the early 1930s, as Hitler prepared to grab dictatorial power in Germany 
— backed by some, but by no means all, German and American industrialists — the 
German General Electric (A.E.G.) was owned by International General Electric (about 30 
percent), the Gesellschaft fiir Electrische Unternemungen (25 percent), and Ludwig Lowe 
(25 percent). International General Electric also had an interest of about 16 2/3rds percent in 
Osram, and an additional indirect influence in 


Companies Linked 


to German General Relationship of 
Electric through Directors of Linked Firm with 
Common Electric German General Financing of 
Directors: Electric (A.E.G.) Hitler: 
Accumulatoran- Quandt Direct Finance, 
Fabrik Pfeffer see p, 55 
Osram Mamroth Direct Finance, 
Peierls see p. 57 
Deutschen Babcock- Landau Not known 
Wilcox 
Vereinigte Wolff Direct Finance, 
Stahlwerke Nathan see p. 57 
Kirdorf 


Goldschmidt 


Krupp Nathan Direct Finance, 

Klotzbach see p. 59 
I.G. Farben Bucher Direct Finance, 

Flechtheim see p. 57 

von Rath 
Allianz u. von Rath Reported, but not 
Stuttgarten Verein Wolff substantiated 
Phoenix Fahrenhorst see p. 57 
Thyssen Fahrenhorst Direct Finance, 
see p. 104 
Demag Fahrenhorst see p. 57 
Flick 
Dynamit Flechtheim Through I.G. Farben 
Gelsenkirchener Kirdorf Direct Finance, 
Bergwerks Flechtheim see p. 57 
International Young Through A.E.G., 
General Electric Swope see p. 52 
Minor 
Baldwin 

American 1.G. von Rath Through 1.G. Farben 
Farben see p. 47 
International Bank H. Furstenberg Not known 
(Amsterdam) Goldschmidt 


Osram through A.E.G. directors. On the board of A.E,G., apart from the four American 
directors (Young, Swope, Minor, and Baldwin), we find Pferdmenges of Oppenheim & Co. 
(another Hitler financier), and Quandt, who owned 75 percent of Accumlatoren-Fabrik, a 
major direct financier of Hitler. In other words, among the German board members of 
A.E.G. we find representatives from several of the German firms that financed Hitler in the 
1920s and 1930s. 


General Electric and the Financing of Hitler 


The tap root of modern corporate socialism runs deep into the management of two affiliated 
multi-national corporations: General Electric Company in the United States and its foreign 
associates, including German General Electric (A.E.G.), and Osram in Germany. We have 
noted that Gerard Swope, second president and chairman of General Electric, and Walter 
Rathanau of A.E.G. promoted radical ideas for control of the State by private business 
interests. 


From 1915 onwards International General Electric (I1.G.E.), located at 120 Broadway in 
New York City, acted as the foreign investment, manufacturing, and selling organization for 
the General Electric Company. I.G.E. held interests in overseas manufacturing companies 
including a 25 to 30-percent holding in German General Electric (A.E.G.), plus holdings in 
Osram G.m.b.H. Kommanditgesellschaft, also in Berlin. These holdings gave International 
General Electric four directors on the board of A.E.G., and another director at Osram, and 
significant influence in the internal domestic policies of these German companies. The 


significance of this General Electric ownership is that A.E.G. and Osram were prominent 
suppliers of funds for Hitler in his rise to power in Germany in 1933. A bank transfer slip 
dated March 2, 1933 from A.E.G. to Delbruck Schickler & Co. in Berlin requests that 
60,000 Reichsmark be deposited in the "Nationale Treuhand" (National Trusteeship) 
account for Hitler's use. This slip is reproduced on page 56. 


I.G. Farben was the most important of the domestic financial backers of Hitler, and (as 
noted elsewhere) I.G. Farben controlled American I.G. Moreover, several directors of 
A.E.G. were also on the board of I.G. Farben — i.e., Hermann Bucher, chairman of A.E.G. 
was on the I.G. Farben board; so were A.E.G. directors Julius Flechtheim and Walter von 
Rath. I.G. Farben contributed 30 percent of the 1933 Hitler National Trusteeship (or 
takeover) fund. 


Walter Fahrenhorst of A.E.G. was also on the board of Phoenix A-G, Thyssen A-G and 
Demag A-G — and all were contributors to Hitler's fund. Demag A-G contributed 50,000 
RM to Hitler's fund and had a director with A.E.G.— the notorious Friedrich Flick, and 
early Hitler supporter, who was later convicted at the Nuremberg Trials. Accumulatoren 
Fabrik A-G was a Hitler contributor (25,000 RM, see page 60) with two directors on the 
A.E.G. board, August Pfeffer and Gunther Quandt. Quandt personally owned 75 percent of 
Accumulatoren Fabrik. 


Osram Gesellschaft, in which International General Electric had a 16 2/3rds direct interest, 
also had two directors on the A.E.G. board: Paul Mamroth and Heinrich Pferls. Osram 
contributed 40,000 RM directly to the Hitler fund. The Otto Wolff concern, Vereinigte 
Stahlwerke A-G, recipient of substantial New York loans in the 1920s, had three directors 
on the A.E.G. board: Otto Wolff, Henry Nathan and Jakob Goldschmidt. Alfred Krupp yon 
Bohlen, sole owner of the Krupp organization and an early supporter of Hitler, was a 
member of the Aufsichsrat of A.E.G. Robert Pferdmenges, a member of Himmler's Circle 
of Friends, was also a director of A, E.G. 


In other words, almost all of the German directors of German General Electric were 
financial supporters of Hitler and associated not only with A.E.G. but with other companies 
financing Hitler. 


Walter Rathenau!* became a director of A,E.G. in 1899 and by the early twentieth century 
was a director of more than 100 corporations. Rathenau was also author of the" Rathenau 
Plan," which bears a remarkable resemblance to the "Swope Plan" — i.e., FDR's New Deal 
but written by Swope of G.E. In other words, we have the extraordinay coincidence that the 
authors of New Deal-tike plans in the U.S. and Germany were also prime backers of their 
implementers: Hitler in Germany and Roosevelt in the U.S. 


Swope was chairman of the board of General Electric Company and International General 
Electric. In 1932 the American directors of A.E.G, were prominently connected with 
American banking and political circles as follows: 


GERARD Chairman of International General Electric 
SWOPE and 
president of General Electric Company, 
director of 
National City Bank (and other companies), 


director of A.E.G. and Osram in Germany. 
Author of 

FDR's New Deal and member of numerous 
Roosevelt organizations. 


Owen D. Young Chairman of board of General Electric, and 
deputy chairman, Federal Reserve Bank of 
New York. Author, with J. P, Morgan, of the 
Young Plan which superseded the Dawes 
Plan in 1929. (See Chapter One.) 


CLARK H. Minor President and director of International 
General Electric, director of British Thomson 
Houston, Compania Generale di Electtricita 
(Italy), and Japan Electric Bond & Share 
Company (Japan). 


In brief, we have hard evidence of unquestioned authenticity (see p, 56) to show that 
German General Electric contributed substantial sums to Hitler's political fund. There were 
four American directors of A.E.G. (Baldwin, Swope, Minor, and Clark), which was 80 
percent owned by International General Electric. Further, I.G.E. and the four American 
directors were the largest single interest and consequently had the greatest single influence 
in A.E.G. actions and policies. Even further, almost all other directors of A.E.G. were 
connected with firms (I. G. Farben, Accumulatoren Fabrik, etc.) which contributed directly 
— as firms — to Hitler's political fund. However, only the German directors of A.E.G were 
placed on trial in Nuremburg in 1945. 


Technical Cooperation with Krupp 


Quite apart from financial assistance to Hitler, General Electric extended its assistance to 
cartel schemes with other Hitler backers for their mutual benefit and the benefit of the Nazi 
state. Cemented tungsten carbide is one example of this G.E.-Nazi cooperation. Prior to 
November 1928, American industries had several sources for both tungsten carbide and 
tools and dies containing this hard-metal composition. Among these sources were the Krupp 
Company of Essen, Germany, and two American firms to which Krupp was then shipping 
and selling, the Union Wire Die Corporation and Thomas Prosser & Son. In 1928 Krupp 
obligated itself to grant licenses under United States patents which it owned to the Firth- 
Sterling Steel Company and to the Ludlum Steel Company. Before 1928, this tungsten 
carbide for use in tools and dies sold in the United states for about $50 a pound. 


The United States patents which Krupp claimed to own were assigned from Osram 
Kommanditgesellschaft, and had been previously assigned by the Osram Company of 
Germany to General Electric. However, General Electric had also developed its own 
patents, principally the Hoyt and Gilson patents, covering competing processes for 
cemented tungsten carbide. General Electric believed that it could utilize these patents 
independently without infringing on or competing with Krupp patents. But instead of using 
the G.E. patents independently in competition with Krupp, or testing out its rights under the 
patent laws, General Electric worked out a cartel agreement with Krupp to pool the patents 
of both parties and to give General Electric a monopoly control of tungsten carbide in the 
United States. 


The first step in this cartel arrangement was taken by Carboloy Company, Inc., a General 
Electric subsidiary, incorporated for the purpose of exploiting tungsten carbide. The 1920s 
price of around $50 a pound was raised by Carboloy to $458 a pound. Obviously, no firm 
could sell any great amounts of tungsten carbide in this price range, but the price would 
maximize profits for G.E. In 1934 General Electric and Carboloy were also able to obtain, 
by purchase, the license granted by Krupp to the Ludlum Steel Company, thereby 
eliminating one competitor. In 1936, Krupp was induced to refrain from further imports into 
the United States. Part of the price paid for the elimination from the American market of 
tungsten carbide manufactured abroad was a reciprocal undertaking that General Electric 
and Carboloy would not export from the U.S. Thus these American companies tied their 
own hands by contract, or permitted Krupp to tie their hands, and denied foreign markets to 
American industry. Carboloy Company then acquired the business of Thomas Prosser & 
Son, and in 1937, for nearly $1 million, Carboloy acquired the competing business of the 
Union Wire Die Corporation. By refusing to sell, Krupp cooperated with General Electric 
and Carboloy to persuade Union Wire Die Corporation to sell out. 


Licenses to manufacture tungsten carbide were then refused. A request for license by the 
Crucible Steel Company was refused in 1936. A request by the Chrysler Corporation for a 
license was refused in 1938. A license by the Triplett Electrical Instrument Company was 
refused on April 25, 1940. A license was also refused to the General Cable Company. The 
Ford Motor Company for several years expressed strong opposition to the high-price policy 
followed by the Carboloy Company, and at one point made a request for the right to 
manufacture for its own use. This was refused. As a result of these tactics, General Electric 
and its subsidiary Carboloy emerged in 1936 or 1937 with virtually a complete monopoly of 
tungsten carbide in the United States. 


In brief, General Electric — with the cooperation of another Hitler supporter, Krupp — 
jointly obtained for G,E. a monopoly in the U.S. for tungsten carbide. So when World War 
II began, General Electric had a monopoly at an established price of $450 a pound — 
almost ten times more than the 1928 price — and use in the U.S. had been correspondingly 
restricted, 


A.E.G. Avoids the Bombs in World War II 


By 1939 the German electrical industry had become closely affiliated with two U.S. firms: 
International General Electric and International Telephone and Telegraph. The largest firms 
in German electrical production and their affiliations listed in order of importance were: 


Firm and Type Percent of German U.S. Affiliated 


of Production 1939 production Firm 
Heavy Current 
Industry 
General Electric 40 percent International General 
(A.E.G. ) Electric 
Siemens Schukert 40 percent None 
A.G. 
Brown Boveri et 17 percent None 


Cie 


Telephone and 


Telegraph 

Siemens und Halske 60 percent None 

Lorenz A.G. 85 percent 1.T.T 

Radio 

Telefunken (A.E.G. 60 percent International General 
after 1941) Electric 

Lorenz 35 percent LT.T. 

Wire and Cable 

Felton & 20 percent LT.T. 

Guilleaume A.G. 

Siemens 20 percent None 

A.E.G. 20 percent International General 


Electric 


In other words, in 1939 the German electrical equipment industry was concentrated into a 
few major corporations linked in an international cartel and by stock ownership to 
two .major U.S. corporations. This industrial complex was never a prime target for bombing 
in World War II. The A.E.G. and I.T.T. plants were hit only incidentally in area raids and 
then but rarely. The electrical equipment plants bombed as targets were not those affiliated 
with U.S. firms. It was Brown Boveri at Mannheim and Siemensstadt in Berlin — which 
were not connected with the U.S. — who were bombed. As a result, German production of 
electrical war equipment rose steadily throughout World War II, peaking as late as 1944. 
According to the U.S. Strategic Bombing Survey reports, "In the opinion of Speers' 
assistants and plant officials, the war effort in Germany was never hindered in any 


important manner by any shortage of electrical equipment."!5 


One example of the non-bombing policy for German General Electric was the A. E.G. plant 
at 185 Muggenhofer Strasse, Nuremburg. Study of this plant's output in World War II is of 
interest because it illustrates the extent to which purely peacetime production was converted 
to war work. The pre-war plant manufactured household equipment, such as hot plates, 
electric ranges, electric irons, toasters, industrial baking ovens, radiators, water heaters, 
kitchen ovens, and industrial heaters. In 1939, 1940 and 1941, most of the Nuremburg 
plant's production facilities were used for the manufacture of peacetime products. In 1942 
the plant's production was shifted to manufacture of war equipment. Metal parts for 
communications equipment and munitions such as bombs and mines were made. Other war 
production consisted of parts for searchlights and amplifiers. The following tabulation very 
strikingly shows the conversion to war work: 


Percent 
Total sales Percent ordinary 
Year in 1000 RM for war production 
1939 12,469 5 95 
1940 11,754 15 85 
1941 21,194 40 60 
1942 20,689 61 39 


1948 31,455 67 33 


1944 31,205 69 31 


The actual physical damage by bombing to this plant was insignificant. No serious damage 
occurred until the raids of February 20 and 21, 1945, near the end of the war, and then 
protection had been fairly well developed. Raids during which bombs struck in the plant 
area and the trifling damage done are listed as follows: 


Bombs striking 
plant 
March 8, 1943 30 stick type I.B. Trifling, but 3 
storehouses outside the 
main plant destroyed. 
Sept. 9, 1944 None (blast damage) Trifling, glass and 
blackout curtain damage. 
Nov. 26, 1944 14000 Ib. HE in Wood shop destroyed, 
open space in plant water main broken. 
grounds 
Feb. 20, 1945 2 HE 3 buildings damaged. 
Feb. 21, 1945 5 HE, many I.B.'s Administration bldg. 
destroyed & enameling 
works damaged by HE. 


Date of raid Damage done 


Another example of a German General Electric plant not bombed is the A.E.G. plant at 
Koppelsdorf producing radar sets and bomber antennae. Other A.E.G. plants which were 
not bombed and their war equipment production were: 


LIST OF A.E.G. FACTORIES NOT BOMBED IN WORLD 


WAR II 
Name of Branch Location Product 
1. Werk Kries Saalfeld Measuring 
Reiehmannsdoff Instruments 
mit 
Unterabteilungen in 
Wallendorf und 
Unterweissbach 
2. Werk Bayreuth Starters 
Marktschorgast 
3. Werk F18ha Sachsen Short Wave Sending 
Sets 
4. Werk Reichenbach Vogtland Dry Cell Batteries 
5. Werk Sachsen/S.E. Heavy Starters 
Burglengefeld Chemnitz 
6. Werk Nuremburg Belringersdorf/ Small Components 
Nuremburg 
7. Werk Zirndorf Nuremburg Heavy Starters 


8. Werk Mattinghofen Oberdonau 1 KW Senders 250 


Meters & long wave 
for torpedo boats & 
U-boats 


9. Unterwerk Neustadt Coburg Radar Equipment 


That the A.E.G. plants in Germany were not bombed in World War II was confirmed by the 
United States Strategic Bombing Survey, officered by such academics as John K. Galbraith 
and such Wall Streeters as George W. Ball and Paul H. Nitze. Their "German Electrical 
Equipment Industry Report" dated January 1947 concludes: 


The industry has never been attacked as a basic target system, but a few plants, 
i.e. Brown Boveri at Mannheim, Bosch at Stuutgart and Siemenstadt in Berlin, 


have been subjected to precision raids; many others were hit in area raids.” 


At the end of World War II an Allied investigation team known as FIAT was sent to 
examine bomb damage to German electrical industry plants. The team for the electrical 
industry consisted of Alexander G.P.E. Sanders of International Telephone and Telegraph 
of New York, Whit-worth Ferguson of Ferguson Electric Company, New York, and Erich J. 
Borgman of Westinghouse Electric. Although the stated objective of these teams was to 
examine the effects on Allied bombing of German targets, the objective of this particular 
team was to get the German electrical equipment industry back into production as soon as 
possible. Whirworth Ferguson wrote a report dated March 31, 1945 on the A.E.G. Ostland- 
werke and concluded, "this plant is immediately available for production of fine metal parts 


and assemblies.18 


To conclude, we find that both Rathenau of A.E.G. and Swope of General Electric in the 
U.S. had similar ideas of putting the State to work for their own corporate ends. General 
Electric was prominent in financing Hitler, it profited handsomely from war production — 
and yet it managed to evade bombing in World War II. Obviously the story briefly surveyed 
here deserves a much more thorough — and official — investigation. 


Footnotes: 


lFor the technical details see the three-volume study, Antony C. Sutton, 
Western Technology and Soviet Economic Development, (Stanford, California: 
Hoover Institution Press, 1968, 1971), 1973), hereafter cited as Western 
Technology Series. 


2(New York: Arlington House Publishers, 1975) 


3New York Times, October 6, 1936. See also Antony C. Sutton, Wall Street and 
FDR, op. cit. 


4Of course, socialist pleading by businessmen is still with us. Witness the 
injured cries when President Ford proposed deregulation of airlines and 
trucking. See for example Wall Street Journal, November 25, 1975. 


>Mimeographed Translation in Hoover Institution Library, p. 67. Also see 
Walter Rathenau, /n Days to Come, (London: Allen & Unwin, n.d.) 


STbid, p. 249. 

7New York Times, July 2, 1929. 

$Ibid, July 28, 1929. 

“Ibid, August 2, 1929 and August 4, 1929. 
10Tbid, August 6, 1929. 

"Ibid, February 2, 1930. 

!2Tbid, February 2, 1930. 


l3Tbid, May 11, 1930. For the prewar machinations of General Electric, Osram, 
and the Dutch company N.V. Philips Gloeilampenfabrieken of Eindhoven 
Holland, see Chapter 11, "Electric Eels," in James Stewart Martin, op cit. 
Martin was Chief of the Economic Warfare Division of the U.S. Department of 
Justice and comments that "The A.E.G. of Germany was largely controlled by 
the American company, General Electric." The assumption by this author is 
that the G.E. influence was somewhat less than controlling although substantial 
enough. Because of Martin's official position and access to official documents, 
not known to the author, his statement that A.E.G. was "largely controlled" by 
U.S. General Electric cannot be lightly dismissed. However, if we accept that 
G.E. "largely controlled" A.E.G., then the most serious questions arise which 
clamor for investigation. A.E.G. was a prime financier of Hitler and "control" 
would more deeply implicate the U.S. parent company than is suggested by the 
evidence presented here. 


l4son of Emil Rathenau, founder of A.E.G., born in 1867 and assassinated in 
1922. 


'SThe United States Strategic Bombing Survey, German Electrical Equipment 
Industry/Report, (Equipment Division, January 1947), p. 4. 


lous. Strategic Bombing Survey, Plant Report of A.E.G. (Allgemeine 
Elektrizitats Gesellschaft), Nuremburg, Germany: June 1945), p. 6. 


Ein: 3. Consequently, "production during the war was adequate until November 
1944" and "in the opinion of Speer assistants and plant officials the war effort 
in Germany was never hindered in any important manner by any shortage of 
electrical equipment." Difficulties arose only at the very end of the war when 
the whole economy was threatened with collapse. The report concluded, "All 
important needs for electrical equipment in 1944 may therefore be said to have 


been met, since plans were always optimistic." 


Bus. Strategic Bombing Survey, AEG-Ostlandwerke GmbH, by Whitworth 
Ferguson, 31 May 1945. 


BACK 


CHAPTER FOUR 
Standard Oil Fuels World War II 


In two gears Germany will be manufacturing oil and gas enough out of soft 
coal for a long war. The Standard Oil of New York is furnishing millions of 
dollars to help. (Report from the Commercial Attaché, U.S. Embassy in Berlin, 
Germany, January 1933, to State Department in Washington, D.C,) 


The Standard Oil group of companies, in which the Rockefeller family owned a one-quarter 


(and controlling) interest, was of critical assistance in helping Nazi Germany prepare for 
World War II. This assistance in military preparation came about because Germany's 
relatively insignificant supplies of crude petroleum were quite insufficient for modern 
mechanized warfare; in 1934 for instance about 85 percent of German finished petroleum 
products were imported. The solution adopted by Nazi Germany was to manufacture 
synthetic gasoline from its plentiful domestic coal supplies. It was the hydrogenation 
process of producing synthetic gasoline and iso-octane properties in gasoline that enabled 
Germany to go to war in 1940 — and this hydrogenation process was developed and 
financed by the Standard Oil laboratories in the United States in partnership with LG. 
Farben. 


Evidence presented to the Truman, Bone, and Kilgore Committees after World War II 
confirmed that Standard Oil had at the same time "seriously imperiled the war preparations 


of the United States." Documentary evidence was presented to all three Congressional 
committees that before World War II Standard Oil had agreed with I.G. Farben, in the so- 
called Jasco agreement, that synthetic rubber was within Farben's sphere of influence, while 
Standard Oil was to have an absolute monopoly in the U.S. only if and when Farben 
allowed development of synthetic rubber to take place in the U.S.: 


Accordingly [concluded the Kilgore Committee] Standard fully accomplished 
I.G.'s purpose of preventing United States production by dissuading American 
rubber companies from undertaking independent research in developing 
synthetic rubber processes.3 


Regrettably, the Congressional committees did not explore an even more ominous aspect of 
this Standard Oil — I.G. Farben collusion: that at this time directors of Standard Oil of New 
Jersey had not only strategic warfare affiliations to I.G. Farben, but had other links with 
Hitler's Germany — even to the extent of contributing, through German subsidiary 
companies, to Heinrich Himmler's personal fund and with membership in Himmler's Circle 
of Friends as late as 1944. 


During World War II Standard Oil of New Jersey was accused of treason for this pre-war 
alliance with Farben, even while its continuing wartime activities within Himmler's Circle 
of Friends were unknown. The accusations of treason were vehemently denied by Standard 
Oil. One of the more prominent of these defenses was published by R.T. Haslam, a director 


of Standard Oil of New Jersey, in The Petroleum Times (December 25, 1943), and entitled 


"Secrets Turned into Mighty War Weapons Through I.G. Farben Agreement."* This was an 
attempt to turn the tables and present the pre-war collusion as advantageous to the United 
States. 


Whatever may have been Standard Oil's wartime recollections and hasty defense, the 1929 
negotiations and contracts between Standard and I.G. Farben were recorded in the 
contemporary press and describe the agreements between Standard Oil of New Jersey and 
I.G. Farben and their intent. In April 1929 Walter C. Teagle, president of Standard Oil of 
New Jersey, became a director of the newly organized American I.G. Farben. Not because 
Teagle was interested in the chemical industry but because, 


It has for some years past enjoyed a very close relationship with certain 
branches of the research work of the I.G. Farbenin-dustrie which bear closely 
upon the oil industry.5 


It was announced by Teagle that joint research work on production of oil from coal had 
been carried on for some time and that a research laboratory for this work was to be 


established in the United States.° In November 1929 this jointly owned Standard — Farben 
research company was established under the management of the Standard Oil Company of 
New Jersey, and all research and patents relating to production of oil from coal held by both 
I.G. and Standard were pooled. Previously, during the period 1926-1929, the two companies 
had cooperated in development of the hydrogenation process, and experimental plants had 
been placed in operation in both the U.S. and Germany. It was now proposed to erect new 
plants in the U.S. at Bayway, New Jersey and Baytown, Texas, in addition to expansion of 
the earlier experimental plant at Baton Rouge. Standard announced: 


... the importance of the new contract as applied to this country lay in the fact 
that it made certain that the hydrogenation process would be developed 


commercially in this country under the guidance of American oil interests.Z 


In December 1929 the new company, Standard I.G. Company, was organized. F.A. Howard 
was named president, and its German and American directors were announced as follows: 
E.M. Clark, Walter Duisberg, Peter Hurll, R.A. Reidemann, H.G. Seidel, Otto von Schenck, 
and Guy Wellman. 


The majority of the stock in the research company was owned by Standard Oil. The 
technical work, the process development work, and the construction of three new oil-from- 
coal plants in the United States was placed in the hands of the Standard Oil Development 
Company, the Standard Oil technical subsidiary. It is clear from these contemporary reports 
that the development work on oil from coal was undertaken by Standard Oil of New Jersey 
within the United States, in Standard Oil plants and with majority financing and control by 
Standard. The results of this research were made available to I.G. Farben and became the 
basis for the development of Hitler's oil from-coal-program which made World War II 
possible. 


The Haslam article, written by a former Professor of Chemical Engineering at M.I.T. (then 
vice president of Standard Oil of New Jersey) argued — contrary to these recorded facts — 
that Standard Oil was able, through its Farben agreements, to obtain German technology for 
the United States. Haslam cited the manufacture of toluol and paratone (Op-panol), used to 


stabilize viscosity of oil, an essential material for desert and Russian winter tank operations, 
and buna rubber. However, this article, with its erroneous self-serving claims, found its way 
to wartime Germany and became the subject of a "Secret" I.G. Farben memorandum dated 
June 6, 1944 from Nuremburg defendent and then-Farben official von Knieriem to fellow 
Farben management officials. This yon Knieriem "Secret" memo set out those facts Haslam 
avoided in his Petroleum Times article. The memo was in fact a summary of what Standard 
was unwilling to reveal to the American public — i.e., the major contribution made by 
Standard Oil of New Jersey to the Nazi war machine. The Farben memorandum states that 
the Standard Oil agreements were absolutely essential for 1.G. Farben: 


The closing of an agreement with Standard was necessary for technical, 
commercial, and financial reasons:technically, because the specialized 
experience which was available only in a big oil company was necessary to the 
further development of our process, and no such industry existed in Germany; 
commercially, because in the absence of state economic control in Germany at 
that time, IG had to avoid a competitive struggle with the great oil powers, who 
always sold the best gasoline at the lowest price in contested markets; 
financially, because IG, which had already spent extraordinarily large sums 


for the development of the process, had to seek financial relief in order to be 


able to continue development in other new technical fields, such as buna.® 


The Farben memorandum then answered the key question: What did I.G. Farben acquire 
from Standard Oil that was "vital for the conduct of war?" The memo examines those 
products cited by Haslam — i.e., iso-octane, tuluol, Oppanol-Paratone, and buna — and 
demonstrates that contrary to Standard Oil's public claim, their technology came to a great 
extent from the U.S., not from Germany. 


On iso-octane the Farben memorandum reads, in part, 


By reason of their decades of work on motor fuels, the Americans were ahead 
of us in their knowledge of the quality requirements that are called for by the 
different uses of motor fuels. In particular they had developed, at great 
expense, a large number of methods of testing gasoline for different uses. On 
the basis of their experiments they had recognized the good anti, knock quality 
of iso-octane long before they had any knowledge of our hydrogenation 
process. This is proved by the single fact that in America fuels are graded in 
octane numbers, and iso-octane was entered as the best fuel with the number 
100. All this knowledge naturally became ours as a result of the agreement, 
which saved us much effort and protected us against many errors. 


I.G. Farben adds that Haslam's claim that the production of iso-octane became known in 
America only through the Farben hydrogenation process was not correct: 


Especially in the case of iso-octane, it is shown that we owe much to the 
Americans because in our own work we could draw widely on American 
information on the behavior of fuels in motors. Moreover, we were also kept 
currently informed by the Americans on the progress of their production 
process and its further development. 


Shortly before the war, a new method for the production of iso-octane was 


found in America — alkylation with isomerization as a preliminary step. This 
process, which Mr. Haslain does not mention at all, originates in fact entirely 
with the Americans and has become known to us in detail in its separate stages 
through our agreements with them, and is being used very extensively by us. 


On toluol, I.G. Farben points to a factual inaccuracy in the Haslam article: toluol was not 
produced by hydrogenation in the U.S. is claimed by Professor Haslam. In the case of 
Oppanol, the I.G. memo calls Haslam's information "incomplete" and so far as buna rubber 
is concerned, "we never gave technical information to the Americans, nor did technical 
cooperation in the buna field take place." Most importantly, the Farben memo goes on to 
describe some products not cited by Haslam in his article: 


As a consequence of our contracts with the Americans, we received from them, 
above and beyond the agreement, many very valuable contributions for the 
synthesis and improvement of motor fuels and lubricating oils, which Just now 
during the war are most useful to us; and we also received other advantages 
from them. Primarily, the following may be mentioned: 


(1) Above all, improvement of fuels through the addition of tetraethyl-lead and 
the manufacture of this product. It need not be especially mentioned that 
without tetraethl-lead the present methods of warfare would be impossible. The 
fact that since the beginning of the war we could produce tetraethyl-lead is 
entirely due to the circumstances that, shortly before, the Americans had 
presented us with the production plans, complete with their know-how. It was, 
moreover, the first time that the Americans decided to give a license on this 
process in a foreign country (besides communication of unprotected secrets) 
and this only on our urgent requests to Standard Oil to fulfill our wish. 
Contractually we could not demand it, and we found out later that the War 
Department in Washington gave its permission only after long deliberation. 


(2) Conversion of low-molecular unsaturates into usable gasoline 
(polymerization). Much work in this field has been done here as well as in 
America. But the Americans were the first to carry the process through on a 
large scale, which suggested to us also to develop the process on a large 
technical scale. But above and beyond that, plants built according to American 
processes are functioning in Germany. 


(3) In the field of lubricating oils as well, Germany through the contract with 
America, learned of experience which is extraordinarily important for present 
day warfare. 


In this connection, we obtained not only the experience of Standard, but, 
through Standard, the experiences of General Motors and other large 
American motor companies as well. 


(4) As a further remarkable example of advantageous effect for us of the 
contract between IG and Standard Oil, the following should be mentioned: in 
the years 1934 / 1935 our government had the greatest interest in gathering 
from abroad a stock of especially valuable mineral oil products (in particular, 
aviation gasoline and aviation lubricating oil), and holding it in reserve to an 


amount approximately equal to 20 million dollars at market value. The German 
Government asked IG if it were not possible, on the basis o fits friendly 
relations with Standard Oil, to buy this amount in Farben's name; actually, 
however, as trustee of the German Government. The fact that we actually 
succeeded by means of the most difficult negotiations in buying the quantity 
desired by our government from the American Standard Oil Company and the 
Dutch — English Royal — Dutch — Shell group and in transporting it to 
Germany, was made possible only through the aid of the Standard Oil Co. 


Ethyl Lead for the Wehrmacht 


Another prominent example of Standard Oil assistance to Nazi Germany — in cooperation 
with General Motors — was in supplying ethyl lead. Ethyl fluid is an anti-knock compound 
used in both aviation and automobile fuels to eliminate knocking, and so improve engine 
efficiency; without such anti-knocking compounds modern mobile warfare would be 
impractical. 


In 1924 the Ethyl Gasoline Corporation was formed in New York City, jointly owned by 
the Standard Oil Company of New Jersey and General Motors Corporation, to control and 
utilize U.S. patents for the manufacture and distribution of tetraethyl lead and ethyl fluid in 
the U.S. and abroad. Up to 1935 manufacture of these products was undertaken only in the 
United States. In 1935 Ethyl Gasoline Corporation transferred its know-how to Germany for 
use in the Nazi rearmament program. This transfer was undertaken over the protests of the 
U.S. Government. 


Ethyl's intention to transfer its anti-knock technology to Nazi Germany came to the 
attention of the Army Air Corps in Washington, D.C. On December 15, 1934 E. W. Webb, 
president of Ethyl Gasoline, was advised that Washington had learned of the intention of 
"forming a German company with the I.G. to manufacture ethyl lead in that country." The 
War Department indicated that there was considerable criticism of this technological 
transfer, which might "have the gravest repercussions" for the U.S.; that the commercial 
demand for ethyl lead in Germany was too small to be of interest; and, 


... It has been claimed that Germany is secretly arming [and] ethyl lead would 
doubtless be a valuable aid to military aeroplanes.10 


The Ethyl Company was then advised by the Army Air Corps that "under no conditions 
should you or the Board of Directors of the Ethyl Gasoline Corporation disclose any secrets 


or 'know-how' in connection with the manufacture of tetraethyl lead to Germany.!! 


On January 12, 1935 Webb mailed to the Chief of the Army Air Corps a "Statement of 
Facts," which was in effect a denial that any such technical knowledge would be 
transmitted; he offered to insert such a clause in the contract to guard against any such 
transfer. However, contrary to its pledge to the Army Air Corps, Ethyl subsequently signed 
a joint production agreement with I.G. Farben in Germany to form Ethyl G.m.b.H. and with 
Montecatini in fascist Italy for the same purpose. 


It is worth noting the directors of Ethyl Gasoline Corporation at the time of this transfer:!2 
E.W. Webb, president and director; C.F. Kettering; R.P. Russell; W.C. Teagle, Standard Oil 


of New Jersey and trustee of FDR's Georgia Warm Springs Foundation; F. A. Howard; E. 
M. Clark, Standard Oil of New Jersey; A. P. Sloan, Jr., D. Brown; J. T. Smith; and W.S. 
Parish of Standard Oil of New Jersey. 


The I.G. Farben files captured at the end of the war confirm the importance of this particular 
technical transfer for the German Wehrmacht: 


Since the beginning of the war we have been in a position. to produce lead 
tetraethyl solely because, a short time before the outbreak of the war, the 
Americans had established plants for us ready for production and supplied us 
with all available experience. In this manner we did not need to perform the 
difficult work of development because we could start production right away on 
the basis of all the experience that the Americans had had for years.13 


In 1938, just before the outbreak of war in Europe, the German Luftwaffe had an urgent 
requirement for 500 tons of tetraethyl lead. Ethyl was advised by an official of DuPont that 


such quantities of ethyl would be used by Germany for military purposes.14 This 500 tons 
was loaned by the Ethyl Export Corporation of New York to Ethyl G.m.b.H. of Germany, in 
a transaction arranged by the Reich Air Ministry with I.G. Farben director Mueller-Cunradi. 


The collateral security was arranged in a letter dated September 21, 193815 through Brown 
Brothers, Harriman & Co. of New York. 


Standard Oil of New Jersey and Synthetic Rubber 


The transfer of ethyl technology for the Nazi war machine was repeated in the case of 
synthetic rubber. There is no question that the ability of the German Wehrmacht to fight 
World War II depended on synthetic rubber — as well as on synthetic petroleum — because 
Germany has no natural rubber, and war would have been impossible without Farben's 
synthetic rubber production. Farben had a virtual monopoly of this field and the program to 
produce the large quantities necessary was financed by the Reich: 


The volume of planned production in this field was far beyond the needs of 
peacetime economy. The huge costs involved were consistent only with military 
considerations in which the need for self-sufficiency without regard to cost was 
decisive.16 


As in the ethyl technology transfers, Standard Oil of New Jersey was intimately associated 
with I.G. Farben's synthetic rubber. A series of joint cartel agreements were made in the late 
1920s aimed at a joint world monopoly of synthetic rubber. Hitler's Four Year Plan went 
into effect in 1937 and in 1938 Standard provided I.G. Farben with its new butyl rubber 
process. On the other hand Standard kept the German buna process secret within the United 
States and it was not until June 1940 that Firestone and U.S. Rubber were allowed to 
participate in testing butyl and granted the buna manufacturing licenses. Even then Standard 


tried to get the U.S. Government to finance a large-scale buna program — reserving its 


own funds for the more promising butyl process.17 


Consequently, Standard assistance in Nazi Germany was not limited to oil from coal, 
although this was the most important transfer. Not only was the process for tetraethyl 


transferred to I.G. Farben and a plant built in Germany owned jointly by I.G., General 
Motors, and Standard subsidiaries; but as late as 1939 Standard's German subsidiary 
designed a German plant for aviation gas. Tetraethyl was shipped on an emergency basis for 
the Wehrmacht and major assistance was given in production of butyl rubber, while holding 
secret in the U.S. the Farben process for buna. In other words, Standard Oil of New Jersey 
(first under president W.C. Teagle and then under W..S. Farish) consistently aided the Nazi 
war machine while refusing to aid the United States. 


This sequence of events was not an accident. President W.S. Farish argued that not to have 
granted such technical assistance to the Wehrmacht ”... would have been unwarranted."!8 
The assistance was knowledgeable, ranged over more than a decade, and was so substantive 


that without it the Wehrmacht could not have gone to war in 1939. 


The Deutsche-Amerikanische Petroleum A.G. (DAPAG) 


The Standard Oil subsidiary in Germany, Deutsche-Amerikanische Petroleum A.G. 
(DAPAG), was 94-percent owned by Standard Oil of New Jersey. DAPAG had branches 
throughout Germany, a refinery at Bremen, and a head office in Hamburg. Through 
DAPAG, Standard Oil of New Jersey was represented in the inner circles of Naziism — the 
Keppler Circle and Himmler's Circle of Friends. A director of DAPAG was Karl 
Lindemann, also chairman of the International Chamber of Commerce in Germany, as well 
as director of several banks, including the Dresdner Bank, the Deutsche Reichsbank, and the 
private Nazi-oriented bank of C. Melchior & Company, and numerous corporations 
including the HAPAG (Hamburg-Amerika Line). Lindemann was a member of Keppler's 
Circle of Friends as late as 1944 and so gave Standard Oil of New Jersey a representative at 
the very core of Naziism. Another member of the board of DAPAG was Emil Helfrich, who 
was an original member of the Keppler Circle. 


In sum, Standard Oil of New Jersey had two members of the Keppler Circle as directors of 


its German wholly owned subsidiary. Payments to the Circle from the Standard Oil 
subsidiary company, and from Lindemann and Helffrich as individual directors, continued 


until 1944, the year before the end of World War 1.2 


Footnotes: 


In 1935, John D. Rockefeller, Jr. owned stock valued at $245 million in Stan 
dard Oil of New Jersey, Standard Oil of California, and Socony-Vacuun 
Company, New York Times, January 10, 1935. 


* Elimination of German Resources, op cit., p. 1085. 
“Ibid. 
4NMT, I.G. Farben case, p. 1304. 


>New York Times, April 28, 1929. 


STbid. 

"bid, November 24, 1929. 

8NMT, 1.G. Farben case, Volumes VII and VIII, pp. 1304-1311, 
See letter from U.S. War Department reproduced as Appendix D. 


United States Congress. Senate. Hearings before a subcommittee of the 
Committee on Military Affairs. Scientific and Technical Mobilization, (78th 
Congress, Ist session, S. 702), Part 16, (Washington: Government Printing 
Office, 1944), p. 939. Hereafter cited as Scientific and Technical Mobilization. 


bid. 
Oil and Petroleum Yearbook, 1938, p. 89. 
'3New York Times, October 19, 1945, p. 9. 


4George W. Stocking & Myron W. Watkins, Cartels in Action, (New York: 
The Twentieth Century Fund, 1946), p. 9. 


I5For original documents see NMT, I.G. Farben case, Volume VIII, pp. 1189- 
94. 


I6NMT, 1.G. Farben case, Volume VIII, p. 1264-5. 
1 Scientific and Technical Mobilization, p. 543. 


'8Robert Engler, The Politics of Oil, (New York: The MacMillan Company, 
1961), p. 102. 


see Chapter Nine for details. 


BACK 


CHAPTER FIVE 


|.T.T. Works Both Sides of the War 


Thus while I.T.T. Focke-Wolfe planes were bombing Allied ships, and I. T. T. 
lines were passing information to German submarines, I.T.T. direction finders 
were saving other ships from torpedoes. (Anthony Sampson, The Sovereign 
State of I.T.T., New York: Stein & Day, 1973, p. 40.) 


The multi-national giant International Telephone and Telegraph (L.T.T.)! was founded in 
1920 by Virgin Islands-born entrepreneur Sosthenes Behn. During his lifetime Behn was 
the epitome of the politicized businessman, earning his profits and building the LT.T. 
empire through political maneuverings rather than in the competitive market place. In 1923, 
through political adroitness, Behn acquired the Spanish telephone monopoly, Compania 
Telefonica de Espana. In 1924 I.T.T., now backed by the J.P. Morgan firm, bought what 
later became the International Standard Electric group of manufacturing plants around the 
world. 


The parent board of I.T.T. reflected the J.P. Morgan interests, with Morgan partners Arthur 
M. Anderson and Russell Leffingwell. The Establishment law firm of Davis, Polk, 
Wardwell, Gardiner & Reed was represented by the two junior partners, Gardiner & Reed. 


DIRECTORS OF LT.T. IN 1933: 


Affiliation with other 
Directors Wall Street firms: 
Arthur M. ANDERSON Partner, J.P. MORGAN and 
New York Trust Company 


Hernand BEHN 
Sosthenes BEHN 
F. Wilder BELLAMY 


John W. CUTLER 
George H. GARDINER 


Allen G. HOYT 
Russell C. LEFFINGWELL 


Bradley W. PALMER 


Lansing P. REED 


Bank of America 
NATIONAL CITY BANK 
Partner in Dominick & 
Dominicik 

GRACE NATIONAL BANK, 
Lee Higginson 


Partner in Davis, Polk, 
Wardwell, Gardiner & Reed 


NATIONAL CITY BANK 


Partner J.P. MORGAN and 
CARNEGIE CORP. 
Chairman, Executive 
Committee, UNITED FRUIT 


Partner in Davis, Polk, 
Wardwell, Gardiner & Reed 


The National City Bank (NCB) in the Morgan group was represented by two directors, 
Sosthenes Behn and Allen G. Hoyt. In brief, .T.T. was a Morgan-controlled company; and 
we have previously noted the interest of Morgan-controlled companies in war and 


revolution abroad and political maneuvering in the United States.2 


In 1930 Behn acquired the German holding company of Standard Elekrizitäts A.G., 
controlled by I.T.T. (62.0 percent of the voting stock), A.E.G. (81.1 percent of the voting 
stock) and Felton & Guilleaume (six percent of the voting stock). In this deal Standard 
acquired two German manufacturing plants and a majority stock interest in Telefonfabrik 
Berliner A.G.I.T.T. also obtained the Standard subsidiaries in Germany, Ferdinand 
Schuchardt Berliner Fernsprech-und Telegraphenwerk A,G., as well as Mix & Genest in 
Berlin, and Suddeutsche Apparate Fabrik G,m.b.H. in Nuremburg. 


It is interesting to note in passing that while Sosthenes Behn's I.T.T. controlled telephone 
companies and manufacturing plants in Germany, the cable traffic between the U.S. and 
Germany was under the control of Deutsch-Atlantische Telegraphengesellschaft (the 
German Atlantic Cable Company). This firm, together with the Commercial Cable 
Company and Western Union Telegraph Company, had a monopoly in transatlantic U.S.- 
German cable communications. W.A. Harriman & Company took over a block of 625,000 
shares in Deutsch-Atlantische in 1925, and the firm's board of directors included an unusual 
array of characters, many of whom we have met elsewhere. It included, for example, H. F. 
Albert, the German espionage agent in the United States in World War I; Franklin D. 
Roosevelt's former business associate yon Berenberg-Gossler; and Dr. Cuno, a former 
German chancellor of the 1923 inflationary era. I.T.T. in the United States was represented 
on the board by yon Guilleaume and Max Warburg of the Warburg banking family 


Baron Kurt von Schroder and the LT.T. 


There is no record that I.T.T. made direct payments to Hitler before the Nazi grab for power 
in 1933. On the other hand, numerous payments were made to Heinrich Himmler in the late 
1930s and in World War II itself through I.T.T. German subsidiaries. The first meeting 


between Hitler and I.T.T. officials — so far as we know — was reported in August 1933,3 
when Sosthenes Behn and I.T.T. German representative Henry Manne met with Hitler in 
Berchesgaden. Subsequently, Behn made contact with the Keppler circle (see Chapter Nine) 
and, through Keppler's influence, Nazi Baron Kurt von Schröder became the guardian of 
I.T.T. interests in Germany. Schröder acted as the conduit for I.T.T. money funneled to 
Heinrich Himmler's S.S. organization in 1944, while World War II was in progress, and the 


United states was at war with Germany.“ 


Through Kurt Schröder, Behn and his I.T.T. gained access to the profitable German 
armaments industry and bought substantial interest in German armaments firms, including 
Focke-Wolfe aircraft. These armaments operations made handsome profits, which could 
have been repatriated to the United States parent company. But they were reinvested in 
German rearmament. This reinvestment of profits in German armament firms suggests that 
Wall Street claims it was innocent of wrongdoing in German rearmament — and indeed did 
not even know of Hitler's intentions — are fraudulent. Specifically, I.T.T. purchase of a 
substantial interest in Focke-Wolfe meant, as Anthony Sampson has pointed out, that I.T.T. 
was producing German planes used to kill Americans and their allies — and it made 
excellent profits out of the enterprise. 


In Kurt von Schröder, I.T.T. had access to the very heart of the Nazi power elite. Who was 
Schröder? Baron Kurt von Schröder was born in Hamburg in 1889 into an old, established 
German banking family. An earlier member of the Schröder family moved to London, 
changed his name to Schroder (without the dierisis) and organized the banking firm of J. 
Henry Schroder in London and J. Henry Schroder Banking Corporation in New York. Kurt 
von Schröder also became a partner in the private Cologne Bankhaus, J. H. Stein & 
Company, founded in the late eighteenth century. Both Schröder and Stein had been 
promoters, in company with French financiers, of the 1919 German separatist movement 
which attempted to split the rich Rhineland away from Germany and its troubles. In this 
escapade prominent Rhineland industrialists met at J. H. Stein's house on January 7, 1919 
and a few months later organized a meeting, with Stein as chairman, to develop public 
support for the separatist movement. The 1919 action failed. The group tried again in 1923 
and spearheaded another movement to break the Rhineland away from Germany to come 
under the protection of France. This attempt also failed. Kurt yon Schrader then linked up 
with Hitler and the early Nazis, and as in the 1919 and 1923 Rhineland separatist 
movements, Schröder represented and worked for German industrialists and armaments 
manufacturers. 


In exchange for financial and industrial support arranged by yon Schrader, he later gained 
political prestige. Immediately after the Nazis gained power in 1933 Schrader became the 
German representative at the Bank for International Settlements, which Quigley calls the 
apex of the international control system, as well as head of the private bankers group 
advising the German Reichsbank. Heinrich Himmler appointed Sehroder an S.S. Senior 
Group Leader, and in turn Himmler became a prominent member of Keppler's Circle. (See 
Chapter Nine.) 


In 1938 the Schroder Bank in London became the German financial agent in Great Britain, 
represented at financial meetings by its Managing Director (and a director of the Bank of 
England), F.C. Tiarks. By World War If Baron Schrader had in this manner acquired an 
impressive list of political and banking connections reflecting a widespread influence; it 
was even reported to the U.S. Kilgore Committee that Schrader was influential enough in 
1940 to bring Pierre Laval to power in France. As listed by the Kilgore Committee, 
Sehroder's political acquisitions in the early 1940s were as follows: 


SS Senior Group Leader. 
Iron Cross of First and 
Second Class. 


Swedish Consul General. 


International Chamber of 
Commerce — Member of 
administrative committee. 


Council of Reich Post Office 


— Member of advisory board. 


German Industrial and 
Commerce Assembly — 
Presiding member. 


Trade Group for Wholesale 
and Foreign Trade — 
Manager. 


Akademie fur Deutsches 
Recht (Academy of 
Germany Law) — Member 
City of Cologne — 
Councilor. 


University of Cologne — 
Member of board of 
trustees. 

Kaiser Wilhelm Foundation 
— Senator. 


Reich Board of Economic Advisory Council of 


Affairs Member. German-Albanians. 
Deutsche Reichsbahn — Goods Clearing Bureau — 
President of administrative Member. 

board. 


Working Committee of 
Reich Group for Industry 
and Commerce — Deputy 


chairman.> 


Schröder's banking connections were equally impressive and his business connections (not 
listed here) would take up two pages: 


Bank for International Deutsche Verkehrs-Kredit- 
Settlement — Member of the Bank, A.G., Berlin 
directorate. (Controlled by Deutsche 


Reichsbank) — Chairman of 
board of directors. 


J.H. Stein & Co, Cologne — Deutsche Ueberseeische 

Partner (Banque Worms was Bank (Controlled by 

French cortespondent). Deutsche Bank, Berlin) — 
Director. 

Deutsche Reichsbank, 

Berlin. Adviser to board of 

directors. 


Wirtschafts gruppe Private 
Bankegewerbe — Leader. 


This was the Schröder who, after 1933, represented Sosthenes Behn of LT.T. and LT.T. 
interests in Nazi Germany. Precisely because Schröder had these excellent political 
connections with Hitler and the Nazi State, Behn appointed Schröder to the boards of all the 
I.T.T. German companies: Standard Electrizitatswerke A.G. in Berlin, C. Lorenz A.G. of 
Berlin, and Mix & Genest A.G. (in which Standard had a 94-percent participation). 


In the mid-1930s another link was forged between Wall Street and Schréder, this time 
through the Rockefellers. In 1936 the underwriting and general securities business handled 
by J. Henry Schroder Banking Corporation in New York was merged into a new investment 
banking firm — Schroder, Rockefeller & Company, Inc. at 48 Wall Street. Carlton P. Fuller 
of Schroder Banking Corporation became president and Avery Rockefeller, son of Percy 
Rockefeller (brother of John D. Rockefeller) became vice president and director of the new 
firm. Previously, Avery Rockefeller had been associated behind the scenes with J. Henry 


Schroder Banking Corporation; the new firm brought him out into the open.7 
Westrick, Texaco, and I.T.T. 


I.T.T. had yet another conduit to Nazi Germany, through German attorney Dr. Gerhard 
Westrick. Westrick was one of a select group of Germans who had conducted espionage in 


the United States during World War I. The group included not only Kurt von Schröder and 
Westrick but also Franz yon Papen — whom we shall meet in company with James Paul 
Warburg of the Bank of Manhattan in Chapter Ten — and Dr. Heinrich Albert. Albert, 
supposedly German commercial attache in the U.S. in World War I, was actually in charge 
of financing yon Papen's espionage program. After World War I Westrick and Albert 
formed the law firm of Albert & Westrick which specialized in, and profited heavily from, 
the Wall Street reparations loans. The Albert & Westrick firm handled the German end of 
the J Henry Schroder Banking loans, while the John Foster Dulles firm of Sullivan and 
Cromwell in New York handled the U.S. end of the Schroder loans. 


Just prior to World War II the Albert-Papen-Westrick espionage operation in the United 
States began to repeat itself, only this time around the American authorities were more alert. 
Westrick came to the U.S. in 1940, supposedly as a commercial attache but in fact as 
Ribbentrop's personal representative. A stream of visitors to the influential Westrick in- 
eluded prominent directors of U.S. petroleum and industrial firms, and this brought 
Westrick to the attention of the FBI. 


Westrick at this time became a director of all I-T.T. operations in Germany, in order to 


protect .T.T. interests during the expected U.S. involvement in the European war.® Among 
his other enterprises Westrick attempted to persuade Henry Ford to cut off supplies to 
Britain, and the favored treatment given by the Nazis to Ford interests in France suggests 
that Westrick was partially successful in neutralizing U.S. aid to Britain. 


Although Westrick's most important wartime business connection in the United States was 
with International Telephone and Telegraph, he also represented other U.S. firms, including 
Underwood Elliott Fisher, owner of the German company Mercedes Buromaschinen A.G.; 
Eastman Kodak, which had a Kodak subsidiary in Germany; and the International Milk 
Corporation, with a Hamburg subsidiary. Among Westrick's deals (and the one which 
received the most publicity) was a contract for Texaco to supply oil to the German Navy, 
which he arranged with Torkild Rieber, chairman of the board of Texaco Company. 


In 1940 Rieber discussed an oil deal with Hermann Goering, and Westrick in the United 
States worked for Texas Oil Company. His automobile was bought with Texaco funds, and 
Westrick's driver's license application gave Texaco as his business address. These activities 
were publicized on August 12, 1940. Rieber subsequently resigned from Texaco and 
Westrick returned to Germany. Two years later Rieber was chairman of South Carolina 
Shipbuilding and Dry Docks, supervising construction of more than $10 million of U.S. 
Navy ships, and a director of the Guggenheim family's Barber Asphalt Corporation and 


Seaboard Oil Company of Ohio.? 


LT.T. in Wartime Germany 


In 1939 L.T.T. in the United States controlled Standard Elektrizitats in Germany, and in turn 
Standard Elektrizitats controlled 94 percent of Mix & Genest. On the board of Standard 
Elektrizitats was Baron Kurt yon Schrader, a Nazi banker at the core of Naziism, and Emil 
Heinrich Meyer, brother-in-law of Secretary of State Keppler (founder of the Keppler 
Circle) and a director of German General Electric. Schrader and Meyer were also directors 
of Mix & Genest and the other I.T.T. subsidiary, C. Lorenz Company; both of these LT.T. 
subsidiaries were monetary contributors to Himmler's Circle of Friends — i.e., the Nazi S.S. 


slush fund. As late as 1944, Mix & Genest contributed 5,000 RM to Himmler and Lorenz 
contributed 20,000 RM. In short, during World War II International Telephone and 


Telegraph was making cash payments to S.S. leader Heinrich Himmler.!° These payments 
enabled I.T.T. to protect its investment in Focke-Wolfe, an aircraft manufacturing firm 
producing fighter aircraft used against the United States. 


The interrogation of Kurt von Schréder on November 19, 1945 points up the deliberate 
nature of the close and profitable relationship between Colonel Sosthenes Behn of I.T.T., 
Westrick, Schröder, and the Nazi war machine during World War II, and that this was a 
deliberate and knowledgeable relationship: 


Q. You have [told] us in your earlier testimony, a number of companies in 
Germany in which the International Telephone and Telegraph Company or the 
Standard Electric Company had a participation. Did either International 
Telephone and Telegraph Company or the Standard Electric Company have a 
participation in any other company in Germany? 


A. Yes. The Lorenz Company, shortly before the war, took a participation of 
about 25 percent in Focke-Wolfe A.G. in Bremen. Focke-Wolfe was making 
airplanes for the German Air Ministry. I believe that later as Focke-Wolfe 
expanded and took in more capital that the interest of Lorenz Company 
dropped a little below this 25 percent. 


Q. So this participation in Focke-Wolfe by Lorenz Company began after 
Lorenz Company was nearly 100-percent owned and controlled by Colonel 
Behn through the International Telephone and Telegraph Company? 

A. Yes. 


Q. Did Colonel Behen [sic] approve of this investment by the Lorenz Company 
in Focke-Wolfe? 


A. Lam confident that Colonel Behn approved before his representatives who 
were in close touch with him formally approved the transaction. 


Q. What year was it that the Lorenz Company made the investment which gave 
it this 25 percent participation in Foeke-Wolfe? 


A. I remember it was shortly before the outbreak of war, that is, shortly before 
the invasion of Poland. [Ed: 1939] 


Q Would Westrick know all about the details of the participations of Lorenz 
Company in Foeke-Wolfe, A.G. of Bremen? 


A. Yes. Better than I would. 
Q. What was the size of the investment that Lorenz Company made in the 


Focke-Wolfe A.G., of Bremen, which gave them the initial 25 percent 
participation? 


A. 250,000 thousand RM initially, and this was substantially increased, but I 
don't recall the extent of the additional investments that Lorenz Company made 
to this Focke-Wolfe A.G. of Bremen. 


Q. From 1055, until the outbreak of the European War, was Colonel Behn in a 
position to transfer the profits from investments of his companies in Germany 
to his companies in the United States? 


A. Yes. While it would have required that his companies take a little less than 
the full dividends because of the difficulty of securing foreign exchange, the 
great bulk of the profits could have been transferred to the company of Colonel 
Behn in the United States. However, Colonel Behn did not elect to do this and 
at no time did he ask me if I could accomplish this for him. Instead, he 
appeared to be perfectly content to have all the profits of the companies in 
Germany, which he and his interests controlled, reinvesting these profits in new 
buildings and machinery and any other enterprises engaged in producing 
armaments. 


Another one of these enterprises, Huth and Company, G.m.b.H., of Berlin, 
which made radio and radar parts, many of which were used in equipment 
going to the German Armed Forces. The Lorenz Company as I recall it [had] a 
50-percent participation in Huth and Company. The Lorenz Company also had 
a small subsidiary which acted as a sales agency for the Lorenz Company to 
private customers. 


Q. You were a member of the board of Lorenz Company's board of director, 
from about 1935 up to the present time. During this time, Lorenz Company and 
some of the other companies, such as Foeke-Wolfe with which it had large 
participations, were engaged in the manufacture of equipment for armaments 
and war production. Did you know or did you hear of any protest made by 
Colonel Behn or his representatives against these companies engaged in these 
activities preparing Germany for war? 


A. No. 


Q. Are you positive that there was no other occasion in which you were asked 
by either Westrick, Mann [sic], Colonel Behn or any other person connected 
with the International Telephone and Telegraphic Company interests in 
Germany, to intervene on behalf of the company with the German authorities. 


A. Yes. I don't remember any request for my intervention in any matter of 
importance to the Lorenz Company or any other International Telephone and 
Telegraph interests in Germany. 


TI have read the record of this interrogation and I swear that the answers I have 
given to the question of Messrs. Adams and Pajus are true to the best of 
knowledge and belief. s/Kurt yon Schröder 


It was this story of I.T.T.-Nazi cooperation during World War II and I.T.T. association with 
Nazi Kurt von Schröder that I.T.T. wanted to conceal — and almost was successful in 


concealing. James Stewart Martin recounts how during the planning meetings of the 
Finance Division of the Control Commission he was assigned to work with Captain Norbert 
A. Bogdan, who out of uniform was vice president of the J. Henry Schroder Banking 


Corporation of New York. Martin relates that "Captain Bogdan had argued vigorously 


against investigation of the Stein Bank on the grounds that it was 'small potatoes." +H 


Shortly after blocking this maneuver, two permanent members of Bogdan's staff applied for 
permission to investigate the Stein Bank — although Cologne had not yet fallen to U.S. 
forces. Martin recalls that "The Intelligence Division blocked that one," and so some 
information on the Stein-Schröder Bank-I.T.T. operation survived. 


Footnotes: 


lFor an excellent review of LT.T.'s worldwide activities, see Anthony 
Sampson, The Sovereign State of I.T.T., (New York: Stein & Day, 1973). 


2See also Sutton, Wall Street and the Bolshevik Revolution, op. cit. 
3New York Times, August 4, 1933. 


4See also Chapter Nine for documentary proof of these I.T.T. payments to the 
S.S. 


5Elimination of German Resources, p. 871. 
STbid. 
7New York Times, July 20, 1936. 


8 Anthony Sampson reports a meeting between I.T.T. vice president Kenneth 
Stockton and Westrick in which the preservation of I.T.T. properties was 
planned. See Anthony Sampson, op. cit., p. 39. 


There is no substance to reports that Rieber received $20,000 from the Nazis. 
These reports were investigated by the F.B.I. with no proof forthcoming. See 
United States Senate, Subcommittee to Investigate the Administration of the. 
Internal Security Act, Committee on the Judiciary, Morgenthau Diary 
(Germany), Volume I, 90th Congress, Ist Session, November 20, 1967, 
(Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1967), pp. 316-8. On Rieber 
see also Appendix to the Congressional Record, August 20, 1942, p, A 1501-2, 
Remarks of Hon. John M. Coffee. 


10See pp. 128-130 for further details. 


lJames Stewart Martin, op. cit., p. 52. 


BACK 


CHAPTER SIX 


Henry Ford and the Nazis 


I would like to outline the importance attached by high [Nazi] officials to 
respect the desire and maintain the good will of "Ford," and by "Ford" I mean 
your father, yourself, and the Ford Motor Company, Dearborn. (Josiah E. 
Dubois, Jr, Generals in Grey Suits, London: The Bodley Head, 1953, p. 250.) 


Henry Ford is often seen to be something of an enigma among the Wall Street elite. For 
many years in the 20s and 30s Ford was popularly known as an enemy of the financial 
establishment. Ford accused Morgan and others of using war and revolution as a road to 
profit and their influence in social systems as a means of personal advancement. By 1938 
Henry Ford, in his public statements, had divided financiers into two classes: those who 
profited from war and used their influence to bring about war for profit, and the 
"constructive" financiers. Among the latter group he now included the House of Morgan. 


During a 1938 New York Times interview! Ford averred that: 


Somebody once said that sixty families have directed the destinies of the nation. 
It might well be said that if somebody would focus the spotlight on twenty-five 
persons who handle the nation's finances, the world's real warmakers would be 
brought into bold relief. 


The Times reporter asked Ford how he equated this assessment with his long-standing 
criticism of the House of Morgan, to which Ford replied: 


There is a constructive and a destructive Wall Street. The House of Morgan 
represents the constructive. I have known Mr. Morgan for many years. He 
backed and supported Thomas Edison, who was also my good friend .... 


After expounding on the evils of limited agricultural production — allegedly brought about 
by Wall Street — Ford continued, 


. If these financiers had their way we'd be in a war now. They want war 
because they make money out of such conflict — out of the human misery that 
wars bring. 


On the other hand, when we probe behind these public statements we find that Henry Ford 
and son Edsel Ford have been in the forefront of American businessmen who try to walk 
both sides of every ideological fence in search of profit. Using Ford's own criteria, the Fords 
are among the "destructive" elements. 


It was Henry Ford who in the 1930s built the Soviet Union's first modern automobile plant 
(located at Gorki) and which in the 50s and 60s produced the trucks used by the North 


Vietnamese to carry weapons and munitions for use against Americans.” At about the same 


time, Henry Ford was also the most famous of Hitler's foreign backers, and he was 
rewarded in the 1930s for this long-lasting support with the highest Nazi decoration for 
foreigners. 


This Nazi favor aroused a storm of controversy in the United States and ultimately 
degenerated into an exchange of diplomatic notes between the German Government and the 
State Department. While Ford publicly protested that he did not like totalitarian 
governments, we find in practice that Ford knowingly profited from both sides of World 
War II — from French and German plants producing vehicles at a profit for the Wehrmacht, 
and from U.S. plants building vehicles at a profit for the U.S. Army. 


Henry Ford's protestations of innocence suggest, as we shall see in this chapter, that he did 
not approve of Jewish financiers profiting from war (as some have), but if anti-Semitic 


Morgan? and Ford profited from war that was acceptable, moral and "constructive." 


Henry Ford: Hitler's First Foreign Backer 


On December 20, 1922 the New York Times reported* that automobile manufacturer Henry 
Ford was financing Adolph Hitler's nationalist and anti-Semitic movements in Munich. 
Simultaneously, the Berlin newspaper Berliner Tageblatt appealed to the American 
Ambassador in Berlin to investigate and halt Henry Ford's intervention into German 
domestic affairs. It was reported that Hitler's foreign backers had furnished a "spacious 
headquarters" with a "host of highly paid lieutenants and officials." Henry Ford's portrait 
was prominently displayed on the walls of Hitler's personal office: 


The wall behind his desk in Hitler's private office is decorated with a large 
picture of Henry Ford. In the antechamber there is a large table covered with 
books, nearly all of which are a translation of a book written and published by 
Henry Ford.5 


The same New York Times report commented that the previous Sunday Hitler had reviewed, 


The so-called Storming Battalion.., 1,000 young men in brand new uniforms 
and armed with revolvers and blackjacks, while Hitler and his henchmen drove 
around in two powerful brand-new autos. 


The Times made a clear distinction between the German monarchist parties and Hitler's 
anti-Semitic fascist party. Henry Ford, it was noted, ignored the Hohenzollern monarchists 
and put his money into the Hitlerite revolutionary movement. 


These Ford funds were used by Hitler to foment the Bavarian rebellion. The rebellion failed, 
and Hitler was captured and subsequently brought to trial. In February 1923 at the trial, vice 
president Auer of the Bavarian Diet testified: 


The Bavarian Diet has long had the information that the Hitler movement was 
partly financed by an American anti-Semitic chief; who is Henry Ford. Mr. 
Ford's interest in the Bavarian anti-Semitic movement began a year ago when 
one of Mr. Ford's agents, seeking to sell tractors, came in contact with 
Diedrich Eichart, the notorious Pan-German. Shortly after, Herr Eichart asked 


Mr. Ford's agent for financial aid. The agent returned to America and 
immediately Mr. Ford's money began coming to Munich. 


Herr Hitler openly boasts of Mr. Ford's support and praises Mr. Ford as a 
great individualist and a great anti-Semite. A photograph of Mr. Ford hangs in 
Herr Hitler's quarters, which is the center of monarchist movement.® 


Hitler received a mild and comfortable prison sentence for his Bavarian revolutionary 
activities. The rest from more active pursuits enabled him to write Mein Kampf. Henry 
Ford's book, The International Jew, earlier circulated by the Nazis, was translated by them 
into a dozen languages, and Hitler utilized sections of the book verbatim in writing Mein 


Kampf." 


We shall see later that Hitler's backing in the late 20s and early 30s came from the chemical, 
steel, and electrical industry cartels, rather than directly from individual industrialists. In 
1928 Henry Ford merged his German assets with those of the I.G. Farben chemical cartel. A 
substantial holding, 40 percent of Ford Motor A.G. of Germany, was transferred to 1.G. 
Farben; Carl Bosch of I.G. Farben became head of Ford A.G. Motor in Germany. 
Simultaneously, in the United States Edsel Ford joined the board of American I.G. Farben. 
(See Chapter Two.) 


Henry Ford Receives a Nazi Medal 


A decade later, in August 1938 — after Hitler had achieved power with the aid of the cartels 
— Henry Ford received the Grand Cross of the German Eagle, a Nazi decoration for 
distinguished foreigners. The New York Times reported it was the first time the Grand Cross 


had been awarded in the United States and was to celebrate Henry Ford's 75th birthday. 


The decoration raised a storm of criticism within Zionist circles in the U.S. Ford backed off 
to the extent of publicly meeting with Rabbi Leo Franklin of Detroit to express his 
sympathy for the plight of German Jews: 


My acceptance of a medal from the German people [said Ford] does not, as 
some people seem to think, involve any sympathy on my part with naziism. 
Those who have known me for many years realize that anything that breeds 
hate is repulsive to me.2 


The Nazi medal issue was picked up in a Cleveland speech by Secretary of Interior Harold 
Ickes. Ickes criticized both Henry Ford and Colonel Charles A. Lindbergh for accepting 
Nazi medals. The curious part of the Ickes speech, made at a Cleveland Zionist Society 
banquet, was his criticism of "wealthy Jews" and their acquisition and use of wealth: 


A mistake made by a non-Jewish millionaire reflects upon him alone, but a 
false step made by a Jewish man of wealth reflects upon his whole race. This is 
harsh and unjust, but it is a fact that must be faced.10 


Perhaps Ickes was tangentially referring to the roles of the Warburgs in the IG. Farben 
cartel: Warburgs were on the board of I.G. Farben in the U.S. and Germany. In 1938 the 
Warburgs were being ejected by the Nazis from Germany. Other German Jews, such as the 


Oppenheim bankers, made their peace with the Nazis and were granted "honorary Aryan 
status." 


Ford Motor Company Assists the German War Effort 


A post-war Congressional subcommittee investigating American support for the Nazi 
military effort described the manner in which the Nazis succeeded in obtaining U.S. 


technical and financial assistance as "quite fantastic. Among other evidence the 


Committee was shown a memorandum prepared in the offices of Ford-Werke A.G. on 
November 25, 1941, written by Dr. H. F. Albert to R. H. Schmidt, then president of the 
board of Ford-Werke A.G. The memo cited the advantages of having a majority of the 
German firm held by Ford Motor Company in Detroit. German Ford had been able to 
exchange Ford parts for rubber and critical war materials needed in 1938 and 1939 "and 
they would not have been able to do that if Ford had not been owned by the United States." 
Further, with a majority American interest German Ford would "more easily be able to step 
in and dominate the Ford holdings throughout Europe." It was even reported to the 
Committee that two top German Ford officials had been in a bitter personal feud about who 
was to control Ford of England, such "that one of them finally got up and left the room in 
disgust." 


According to evidence presented to the Committee, Ford-Werke A.G. was technically 
transformed in the late 1930s into a German company. All vehicles and their parts were 
produced in Germany, by German workers using German materials under German direction 
and exported to European and overseas territories of the United States and Great Britain. 
Any needed foreign raw materials, rubber and nonferrous metals, were obtained through the 
American Ford Company. American influence had been more or less converted into a 
supporting position (Hilfsstellung) for the German Ford plants. 


At the outbreak of the war Ford-Werke placed itself at the disposal of the Wehrmacht for 
armament production. It was assumed by the Nazis that as long as Ford-Werke A.G. had an 
American majority, it would be possible to bring the remaining European Ford companies 
under German influence — i.e., that of Ford-Werke A.G. — and so execute Nazi "Greater 
European" policies in the Ford plants in Amsterdam, Antwerp, Paris, Budapest, Bucharest, 
and Copenhagen: 


A majority, even if only a small one, of Americans is essential for the 
transmittal of the newest American models, as well as American production 
and sales methods. With the abolition of the American majority, this advantage, 
as well as the intervention of the Ford Motor Company to obtain raw materials 
and exports, would be lost, and the German plant would practically only be 
worth its machine capacity.12 


And, of course, this kind of strict neutrality, taking an international rather than a national 
viewpoint, had earlier paid off for Ford Motor Company in the Soviet Union, where Ford 
was held in high regard as the ultimate of technical and economic efficiency to be achieved 
by the Stak-hanovites. 


In July 1942 word filtered back to Washington from Ford of France about Ford's activities 
on behalf of the German war effort in Europe. The incriminating information was promptly 


buried and even today only part of the known documentation can be traced in Washington. 


We do know, however, that the U.S. Consul General in Algeria had possession of a letter 
from Maurice Dollfuss of French Ford — who claimed to be the first Frenchman to go to 
Berlin after the fall of France — to Edsel Ford about a plan by which Ford Motor could 
contribute to the Nazi war effort. French Ford was able to produce 20 trucks a day for the 
Wehrmacht, which [wrote Dollfuss] is better than, 


.. our less fortunate French competitors are doing. The reason is that our 
trucks are in very large demand by the German authorities and I believe that as 
long as the war goes on and at least for some period of time, all that we shall 
produce will be taken by the German authorities .... I will satisfy myself by 
telling you that... the attitude you have taken, together with your father, of strict 
neutrality, has been an invaluable asset for the production of your companies 
in Europe.13 


Dollfuss disclosed that profits from this German business were already 1.6 million francs, 
and net profits for 1941 were no less than 58,000,000 francs — because the Germans paid 
promptly for Ford's output. On receipt of this news Edsel Ford cabled: 


Delighted to hear you are making progress. Your letters most interesting. Fully 
realize great handicap you are working under. Hope you and family well. 
Regards. 


s/ Edsel Ford“ 


Although there is evidence that European plants owned by Wall Street interests were not 
bombed by the U.S. Air Force in World War II, this restriction apparently did not reach the 
British Bombing Command. In March 1942 the Royal Air Force bombed the Ford plant at 
Poissy, France. A subsequent letter from Edsel Ford to Ford General Manager Sorenson 
about this RAF raid commented, "Photographs of the plant on fire were published in 
American newspapers but fortunately no reference was made to the Ford Motor 


Company.!> In any event, the Vichy government paid Ford Motor Company 38 million 
francs as compensation for damage done to the Poissy plant. This was not reported in the 
U.S. press and would hardly be appreciated by those Americans at war with Naziism. 
Dubois asserts that these private messages from Ford in Europe were passed to Edsel Ford 
by Assistant Secretary of State Breckenridge Long. This was the same Secretary Long who 
one year later suppressed private messages through the State Department concerning the 
extermination of Jews in Europe. 16 Disclosure of those messages conceivably could have 
been used to assist those desperate people. 


A U.S. Air Force bombing intelligence report written in 1943 noted that, 
Principal wartime activities [of the Ford plant] are probably manufacture of 


light trucks and of spare parts for all the Ford trucks and cars in service in 
Axis Europe (including captured Russian Molotovs).16 


The Russian Molotovs were of course manufactured by the Ford-built works at Gorki, 
Russia. In France during the war, passenger automobile production was entirely replaced by 


military vehicles and for this purpose three large additional buildings were added to the 
Poissy factory. The main building contained about 500 machine tools, "all imported from 
the United States and including a fair sprinkling of the more complex types, such as 


Gleason gear cutters, Bullard automatics and Ingersoll borers. 7 


Ford also extended its wartime activities into North Africa. In December 1941 a new Ford 
Company, Ford-Afrique, was registered in France and granted all the rights of the former 
Ford Motor Company, Ltd. of England in Algeria, Tunisia, French Morocco, French 
Equatorial, and French West Africa. North Africa was not accessible to British Ford so this 
new Ford Company — registered in German-occupied France — was organized to fill the 
gap. The directors were pro-Nazi and included Maurice Dollfuss (Edsel Ford's 
correspondent) and Roger Messis (described by the U.S. Algiers Consul General as "known 


to this office by repute as unscrupulous, is stated to be a 100 percent pro-German")!® 


The U.S. Consul General also reported that propaganda was common in Algiers about 


... the collaboration of French-German-American capital and the questionable 
sincerity of the American war effort, [there] is already pointing an accusing 
finger at a transaction Which has been for long a subject of discussion in 
commercial circles.19 


In brief, there is documentary evidence that Ford Motor Company worked on both sides of 
World War II. If the Nazi industrialists brought to trial at Nuremburg were guilty of crimes 
against mankind, then so must be their fellow collaborators in the Ford family, Henry and 
Edsel Ford. However, the Ford story was concealed by Washington — apparently like 
almost everything else that could touch upon the name and sustenance of the Wall Street 
financial elite. 


Footnotes: 
! June 4, 1938, 2:2. 


2A list of these Gorki vehicles and their model numbers is in Antony G. Sutton, 
National Suicide: Military Aid to the Soviet Union, (New York: Arlington 
House Publishers, 1973), Table 7-2, p. 125. 


>The House of Morgan was known for its anti-Semitic views. 
4Page 2, Column 8. 
“Ibid. 


Jonathan Leonard, The Tragedy of Henry Ford, (New York: G.P. Putnam's 
Sons, 1932), p. 208. Also see U.S. State Department Decimal File, National 
Archives Microcopy M 336, Roll 80, Document 862.00S/6, "Money sources of 
Hitler," a report from the U.S. Embassy in Berlin. 


TOn this see Keith Sward, The Legend of Henry Ford, (New York: Rinehart & 
Co, 1948), p. 139. 


8New York Times, August 1, 1938. 

Ibid., December 1, 1938, 12:2. 

'OTbid., December 19, 1938, 5:3. 

Il Elimination of German Resources, p. 656. 

12 Elimination of German Resources, pp. 657-8. 


DJosiah E. Dubois, Jr., Generals in Grey Suits, (London: The Bodley Head, 
1958), p. 248. 


l4Tbid., p. 249. 

I5Tbid., p. 251. 

Ibid. 

708; Army Air Force, Aiming point report No I.E.2, May 29, 1943. 
IBUS. State Department Decimal File, 800/610.1. 


Mpid. 


BACK 


CHAPTER SEVEN 
Who Financed Adolf Hitler? 


The funding of Hitler and the Nazi movement has yet to be explored in exhaustive depth. 
The only published examination of Hitler's personal finances is an article by Oron James 
Hale, "Adolph Hitler: Taxpayer,! which records Adolph's brushes with the German tax 
authorities before he became Reichskanzler, In the 1920s Hitler presented himself to the 
German tax man as merely an impoverished writer living on bank loans, with an 
automobile .bought on credit. Unfortunately, the original records used by Hale do not yield 
the source of Hitler's income, loans, or credit, and German law "did not require self- 
employed or professional persons to disclose in detail the sources of income or the nature of 


services rendered."2 Obviously the funds for the automobiles, private secretary Rudolf 
Hess, another assistant, a chauffeur, and expenses incurred by political activity, came from 
somewhere. But, like Leon Trotsky's 1917 stay in New York, it is hard to reconcile Hitler's 
known expenditures with the precise source of his income. 


Some Early Hitler Backers 


We do know that prominent European and American industrialists were sponsoring all 
manner of totalitarian political groups at that time, including Communists and various Nazi 
groups. The U.S. Kilgore Committee records that: 


By 1919 Krupp was already giving financial aid to one of the reactionary 
political groups which sowed the seed of the present Nazi ideology. Hugo 
Stinnes was an early contributor to the Nazi Party (National Socialistische 
Deutsche Arbeiter Partei). By 1924 other prominent industrialists and 
financiers, among them Fritz Thyssen, Albert Voegler, Adolph [sic] Kirdorf, 
and Kurt von Schroder, were secretly giving substantial sums to the Nazis. In 
1931 members of the coalowners' association which Kirdorf headed pledged 
themselves to pay 50 pfennigs for each ton of’ coal sold, the money to go to the 


organization which Hitler was building. 


Hitler's 1924 Munich trial yielded evidence that the Nazi Party received $20,000 from 
Nuremburg industrialists. The most interesting name from this period is that of Emil 
Kirdorf, who had earlier acted as conduit for financing German involvement in the 


Bolshevik Revolution.* Kirdorfs role in financing Hitler was, in his own words: 
g 


In 1923 I came into contact for the first time with the National-Socialist 
movement .... I first heard the Fuehrer in the Essen Exhibition Hall. His clear 
exposition completely convinced and overwhelmed me. In 1927 I first met the 
Fuehrer personally. I travelled to Munich and there had a conversation with 
the Fuehrer in the Bruckmann home. During four and a half hours Adolf Hitler 
explained to me his programme in de tail. I then begged the Fuehrer to put 
together the lecture he had given me in the form of a pamphlet. I then 


distributed this pamphlet in my name in business and manufacturing circles. 


Since then I have placed myself completely at the disposition of his movement, 
Shortly after our Munich conversation, and as a result of the pamphlet which 
the Fuehrer composed and I distributed, a number of meetings took place 
between the Fuehrer and leading personalities in the field of indus. try. For the 
last time before the taking over of power, the leaders of industry met in my 
house together with Adolf Hitler, Rudolf Hess, Hermann Goering and other 
leading personalities of the party.5. 


In 1925 the Hugo Stinnes family contributed funds to convert the Nazi weekly Volkischer 
Beobachter to a daily publication. Putzi Hanf-staengl, Franklin D. Roosevelt's friend and 


protegé, provided the remaining funds.© Table 7-1 summarizes presently known financial 
contributions and the business associations of contributors from the United States. Putzi is 
not listed in Table 7-1 as he was neither industrialist nor financier. 


In the early 1930s financial assistance to Hitler began to flow more readily. There took 
place in Germany a series of meetings, irrefutably documented in several sources, between 
German industrialists, Hitler himself, and more often Hitler's representatives Hjalmar 
Sehaeht and Rudolf Hess. The critical point is that the German industrialists financing 
Hitler were predominantly directors of cartels with American associations, ownership, 
participation, or some form of subsidiary connection. The Hitler backers were not, by and 
large, firms of purely German origin, or representative of German family business. Except 
for Thyssen and Kirdoff, in most cases they were the German multi-national firms — i.e., 
I.G. Farben, A.E.G., DAPAG, etc. These multi-nationals had been built up by American 
loans in the 1920s, and in the early 1930s had American directors and heavy American 
financial participation. 


One flow of foreign political funds not considered here is that reported from the European- 
based Royal Dutch Shell, Standard Oil's great competitor in the 20s and 30s, and the giant 
brainchild of Anglo-Dutch businessman Sir Henri Deterding. It has been widely asserted 
that Henri Deterding personally financed Hitler. This argument is made, for instance, by 
biographer Glyn Roberts in The Most Powerful Man in the World. Roberts notes that 
Deterding was impressed with Hitler as early as 1921: 


..and the Dutch press reported that, through the agent Georg Bell, he 
[Deterding] had placed at Hitler's disposal, while the party was "still in long 
clothes," no less than four million guilders.7 


It was reported (by Roberts) that in 1931 Georg Bell, Deterding's agent, attended meetings 


of Ukrainian Patriots in Paris "as joint delegate of Hitler and Deterding."® Roberts also 


reports: 


Deterding was accused, as Edgar Ansell Mowrer testifies in his Germany Puts 
the Clock Back, of putting up a large sum of money for the Nazis on the 
understanding that success would give him a more favored position in the 
German oil market. On other occasions, figures as high as £55,000,000 were 


mentioned. 


Biographer Roberts really found Deterding's strong anti-Bolshevism distasteful, and rather 
than present hard evidence of funding he is inclined to assume rather than prove that 
Deterding was pro-Hitler. But pro-Hitlerism is not a necessary consequence of anti- 
Bolshevism; in any event Roberts offers no proof of finance, and hard evidence of 
Deterding's involvement was not found by this author. 


Mowrer's book contains neither index nor footnotes as to the source of his information and 
Roberts has no specific evidence for his accusations. There is circumstantial evidence that 
Deterding was pro-Nazi. He later went to live in Hitler's Germany and increased his share 
of the German petroleum market. So there may have been some contributions, but these 
have not been proven. 


Similarly, in France (on January 11, 1932), Paul Faure, a member of the Chambre des 
Députés, accused the French industrial firm of Schneider-Creuzot of financing Hitler — and 


incidentally implicated Wall Street in other financing channels.10 


The Schneider group is a famous firm of French armaments manufacturers. After recalling 
the Schneider influence in establishment of Fascism in Hungary and its extensive 
international armaments operations, Paul Fauré turns to Hitler, and quotes from the French 
paper LeJournal, "that Hitler had received 300,000 Swiss gold francs" from subscriptions 
opened in Holland under the case of a university professor named von Bissing. The Skoda 
plant at Pilsen, stated Paul Fauré, was controlled by the French Schneider family, and it was 
the Skoda directors von Duschnitz and von Arthaber who made the subscriptions to Hitler. 
Fauré concluded: 


... Lam disturbed to see the directors of Skoda, controlled by Schneider, 
subsidizing the electoral campaign of M. Hitler; I am disturbed to see your 
firms, your financiers, your industrial cartels unite themselves with the most 
nationalistic of Germans .... 


Again, no hard evidence was found for this alleged flow of Hitler funds. 


Fritz Thyssen and W.A. Harriman Company of New York 


Another elusive case of reported financing of Hitler is that of Fritz Thyssen, the German 
steel magnate who associated himself with the Nazi movement in the early 20s. When 


interrogated in 1945 under Project Dustbin, H Thyssen recalled that he was approached in 
1923 by General Ludendorf at the time of French evacuation of the Ruhr. Shortly after this 
meeting Thyssen was introduced to Hitler and provided funds for the Nazis through General 
Ludendorf. In 1930-1931 Emil Kirdorf approached Thyssen and subsequently sent Rudolf 
Hess to negotiate further funding for the Nazi Party. This time Thyssen arranged a credit of 
250,000 marks at the Bank Voor Handel en Scheepvaart N.V. at 18 Zuidblaak in 
Rotterdam, Holland, founded in 1918 with H.J. Kouwenhoven and D.C. Schutte as 
managing partners.!? This bank was a subsidiary of the August Thyssen Bank of Germany 
(formerly von der Heydt's Bank A.G.). It was Thyssen's personal banking operation, and it 
was affiliated with the W. A. Harriman financial interests in New York. Thyssen reported to 
his Project Dustbin interrogators that: 


I chose a Dutch bank because I did not want to be mixed up with German 


banks in my position, and because I thought it was better to do business with a 
Dutch bank, and I thought I would have the Nazis a little more in my hands.13 


Thyssen's book J Paid Hitler, published in 1941, was purported to be written by Fritz 
Thyssen himself, although Thyssen denies authorship. The book claims that funds for Hitler 
— about one million marks — came mainly from Thyssen himself. J Paid Hitler has other 
unsupported assertions, for example that Hitler was actually descended from an illegitimate 
child of the Rothschild family. Supposedly Hitler's grandmother, Frau Schickelgruber, had 
been a servant in the Rothschild household and while there became pregnant: 


... an inquiry once ordered by the late Austrian chancellor, Engelbert Dollfuss, 
yielded some interesting results, owing to the fact that the dossiers of the police 
department of the Austro-Hungarian monarch were remarkably complete.14 


This assertion concerning Hitler's illegitimacy is refuted entirely in a more solidly based 
book by Eugene Davidson, which implicates the Frankenberger family, not the Rothschild 
family. 


In any event, and more relevant from our viewpoint, the August Thyssen front bank in 
Holland — i.e., the Bank voor Handel en Scheepvaart N.V. — controlled the Union 
Banking Corporation in New York. The Harrimans had a financial interest in, and E. 
Roland Harriman (Averell's brother) was a director of, this Union Banking Corporation. 
The Union Banking Corporation of New York City was a joint Thyssen-Harriman operation 


with the following directors in 1932.15 


E. Roland HARRIMAN Vice president of W. A. 
Harriman & Co., New York 
H.J. KOUWENHOVEN Nazi banker, managing partner 


of August Thyssen Bank and 
Bank voor Handel Scheepvaart 
N.V. (the transfer bank for 
Thyssen's funds) 

J. G. GROENINGEN Vereinigte Stahlwerke (the steel 
cartel which also funded Hitler) 

C. LIEVENSE President, Union Banking 
Corp., New York City 

E. S. JAMES Partner Brown Brothers, later 
Brown Brothers, Harriman & 
Co. 


TABLE 7-1: FINANCIAL LINKS BETWEEN U.S. INDUSTRIALISTS AND ADOLF 
HITLER 





Thyssen arranged a credit of 250,000 marks for Hitler, through this Dutch bank affiliated 
with the Harrimans. Thyssen's book, later repudiated, states that as much as one million 
marks came from Thyssen. 


Thyssen's U.S. partners were, of course, prominent members of the Wall Street financial 
establishment. Edward Henry Harriman, the nineteenth-century railroad magnate, had two 
sons, W. Averell Harriman (born in 1891), and E. Roland Harriman (born in 1895). In 1917 
W. Averell Harriman was a director of Guaranty Trust Company and he was involved in the 


Bolshevik Revolution.!® According to his biographer, Averell started at the bottom of the 
career ladder as a clerk and section hand after leaving Yale in 1913, then "he moved 
steadily forward to positions of increasing responsibility in the fields of transportation and 
finance.!7 In addition to his directorship in Guaranty Trust, Harriman formed the Merchant 
Shipbuilding Corporation in 1917, which soon became the largest merchant fleet under 
American flag. This fleet was disposed of in 1925 and Harriman entered the lucrative 


Russian market.18 


In winding up these Russian deals in 1929, Averell Harriman received a windfall profit of 
$1 million from the usually hard-headed Soviets, who have a reputation of giving nothing 
away without some present or later guid pro quo. Concurrently with these successful moves 
in international finance, Averell Harriman has always been attracted by so-called "public" 
service. In 1913 Harriman's "public" service began with an appointment to the Palisades 
Park Commission. In 1933 Harriman was appointed chairman of the New York State 
Committee of Employment, and in 1934 became Administrative Officer of Roosevelt's 


NRA — the Mussolini-like brainchild of General Electric's Gerard Swope.!2 There 
followed a stream of "public" offices, first the Lend Lease program, then as Ambassador to 
the Soviet Union, later as Secretary of Commerce. 


By contrast, E. Roland Harriman confined his activities to private business in international 
finance without venturing, as did brother Averell, into "public" service. In 1922 Roland and 
Averell formed W. A. Harri-man & Company. Still later Roland became chairman of the 
board of Union Pacific Railroad and a director of Newsweek magazine, Mutual Life 
Insurance Company of New York, a member of the board of governors of the American 
Red Cross, and a member of the American Museum of Natural History. 


Nazi financier Hendrik Jozef Kouwenhoven, Roland Harriman's fellow-director at Union 
Banking Corporation in New York, was managing director of the Bank voor Handel en 
Scheepvaart N.V. (BHS) of Rotterdam. In 1940 the BHS held approximately $2.2 million 
assets in the Union Banking Corporation, which in turn did most of its business with 
BHS.72 In the 1930s Kouwenhoven was also a director of the Vereinigte Stahlwerke A.G., 
the steel cartel founded with Wall Street funds in the mid-1920s. Like Baron Schroder, he 
was a prominent Hitler supporter. 


Another director of the New York Union Banking Corporation was Johann Groeninger, a 
German subject with numerous industrial and financial affiliations involving Vereinigte 


Stahlwerke, the August Thyssen group, and a directorship of August Thyssen Hutte A.G2! 


This affiliation and mutual business interest between Harriman and the Thyssen interests 
does not suggest that the Harrimans directly financed Hitler. On the other hand, it does 


show that the Harrimans were intimately connected with prominent Nazis Kouwenhoven 
and Groeninger and a Nazi front bank, the Bank voor Handel en Scheepvaart. There is 
every reason to believe that the Harrimans knew of Thyssen's support for the Nazis. In the 
case of the Harrimans, it is important to bear in mind their long-lasting and intimate 
relationship with the Soviet Union and the Harriman's position at the center of Roosevelt's 
New Deal and the Democratic Party. The evidence suggests that some members of the Wall 
Street elite are connected with, and certainly have influence with, all significant political 
groupings in the contemporary world socialist spectrum — Soviet socialism, Hitler's 
national socialism, and Roosevelt's New Deal socialism. 


Financing Hitler in the March 1933 General Election 


Putting the Georg Bell-Deterding and the Thyssen-Harriman cases to one side, we now 
examine the core of Hitler's backing. In May 1932 the so-called "Kaiserhof Meeting" took 
place between Schmitz of I.G. Farben, Max Ilgner of American I.G. Farben, Kiep of 
Hamburg-America Line, and Diem of the German Potash Trust. More than 500,000 marks 
was raised at this meeting and deposited to the credit of Rudolf Hess in the Deutsche Bank. 
It is noteworthy, in light of the "Warburg myth" described in Chapter Ten that Max Ilgner 
of the American I.G. Farben contributed 100,000 RM, or one-fifth of the total. The "Sidney 
Warburg" book claims Warburg involvement in the funding of Hitler, and Paul Warburg 


was a director of American I.G. Farben? while Max Warburg was a director of I.G. Farben. 


There exists irrefutable documentary evidence of a further role of. international bankers and 
industrialists in the financing of the Nazi Party and the Volkspartie for the March 1933 
German election. A total of three million Reichmarks was subscribed by prominent firms 
and businessmen, suitably "washed" through an account at the Delbruck Schickler Bank, 
and then passed into the hands of Rudolf Hess for use by Hitler and the NSDAP. This 
transfer of funds was followed by the Reichstag fire, abrogation of constitutional rights, and 
consolidation of Nazi power. Access to the Reichstag by the arsonists was obtained through 
a tunnel from a house where Putzi Hanfstaengel was staying; the Reichstag fire itself was 
used by Hitler as a pretext to abolish constitutional rights. In brief, within a few weeks of 
the major funding of Hitler there was a linked sequence of major events: the financial 
contribution from prominent bankers and industrialists to the 1933 election, burning of the 
Reichstag, abrogation of constitutional rights, and subsequent seizure of power by the Nazi 
Party. 


The fund-raising meeting was held February 20, 1933 in the home of Goering, who was 
then president of the Reichstag, with Hjalmar Horace Greeley Schacht acting as host. 
Among those present, according to I.G. Farben's von Schnitzler, were: 


Krupp von Bohlen, who, in the beginning of 1933, was president of the 
Reichsverband der Deutschen Industrie Reich Association of German Industry; 
Dr. Albert Voegler, the leading man of the Vereinigte Stahlwerke; Von 
Loewenfeld; Dr, Stein, head of the Gewerkschaft Auguste-Victoria, a mine 
which belongs to the IG.23 


Hitler expounded his political views to the assembled businessmen in a lengthy two-and- 
one-half hour speech, using the threat of Communism and a Communist take-over to great 
effect: 


It is not enough to say we do not want Communism in our economy. If we 
continue on our old political course, then we shall perish .... It is the noblest 
task of the leader to find ideals that are stronger than the factors that pull the 
people together. I recognized even while in the hospital that one had to search 
for new ideals conducive to reconstruction. I found them in nationalism, in the 
value of personality, and in the denial of reconciliation between nations .... 


Now we stand before the last election. Regardless of the outcome, there will be 
no retreat, even if the coming election does not bring about decision, one way 
or another. If the election does not decide, the decision must be brought about 
by other means. I have intervened in order to give the people once more the 
chance to decide their fate by themselves .... 


There are only two possibilities, either to crowd back the opponent on 
constitutional grounds, and for this purpose once more this election; or a 
struggle will be conducted with other weapons, which may demand greater 


sacrifices. I hope the German people thus recognize the greatness of the 


hour. 


After Hitler had spoken, Krupp von Bohlen expressed the support of the assembled 
industrialists and bankers in the concrete form of a three-million-mark political fund. It 
turned out to be more than enough to acquire power, because 600,000 marks remained 
unexpended after the election. 


Hjalmar Schacht organized this historic meeting. We have previously described Schacht's 
links with the United States: his father was cashier for the Berlin Branch of Equitable 
Assurance, and Hjalmar was intimately involved almost on a monthly basis with Wall 
Street. 


The largest contributor to the fund was I.G. Farben, which como mitted itself for 80 percent 
(or 500,000 marks) of the total. Director A. Steinke, of BUBIAG (Braunkohlen-u. Brikett- 
Industrie A.G.), an I.G. Farben subsidiary, personally contributed another 200,000 marks. In 
brief, 45 percent of the funds for the 1933 election came from I.G. Farben. If we look at the 
directors of American I.G. Farben — the U.S. subsidiary of I.G. Farben — we get close to 
the roots of Wall Street involvement with Hitler. The board of American I.G. Farben at this 
time contained some of the most prestigious names among American industrialists: Edsel B. 
Ford of the Ford Motor Company, C.E. Mitchell of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, 
and Walter Teagle, director of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the Standard Oil 
Company of New Jersey, and President Franklin D. Roosevelt's Georgia Warm Springs 
Foundation. 


Paul M. Warburg, first director of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and chairman of 
the Bank of Manhattan, was a Farben director and in Germany his brother Max Warburg 
was also a director of I.G, Farben. H. A. Metz of I.G. Farben was also a director of the 
Warburg's Bank of Manhattan. Finally, Carl Bosch of American I.G. Farben was also a 
director of Ford Motor Company A-G in Germany. 


Three board members of American I.G. Farben were found guilty at the Nuremburg War 
Crimes Trials: Max Ilgner, F. Ter Meer, and Hermann Schmitz. As we have noted, the 
American board members — Edsel Ford, C. E. Mitchell, Walter Teagle, and Paul Warburg 


— were not placed on trial at Nuremburg, and so far as the records are concerned, it appears 
that they were not even questioned about their knowledge of the 1933 Hitler fund. 


The 1933 Political Contributions 


Who were the industrialists and bankers who placed election funds at the disposal of the 
Nazi Party in 1933? The list of contributors and the amount of their contribution is as 
follows: 


FINANCIAL CONTRIBUTIONS TO HITLER: 
Feb. 23-Mar. 13, 1933: 


(The Hjalmar Schacht account at Delbruck, Schickler Bank) 
Political Contributions 


by Firms (with selected Amount Percent of 
affiliated directors) Pledged Firm Total 

Verein fuer die $600,000 45.8 

Bergbaulichen 

Interessen (Kitdorf) 

LG. Farbenindustrie 400,000 30.5 


(Edsel Ford, C.E. 
Mitchell, Walter Teagle, 
Paul Warburg) 


Automobile Exhibition, 100,000 7.6 
Berlin (Reichsverbund 

der Automobilindustrie 

S.V.) 

A.E.G., German General 60,000 4.6 
Electric (Gerard Swope, 

Owen Young, C.H. 

Minor, Arthur Baldwin) 





Demag 50,000 3.8 
Osram G.m.b.H. (Owen 40,000 3.0 
Young) 
Telefunken Gesellsehaft 85,000 2.7 
ruer 
drahtlose Telegraphic 
Accumulatoren-Fabrik 25,000 1.9 
A.G. 
(Quandt of A.E.G.) 

Total from industry 1,310,000 99.9 


Plus Political Contributions by Individual Businessmen: 
Karl Hermann 300,000 


Director A. Steinke (BUBIAG- 200,000 
Braunkohlen—u. Brikett — 
Industrie A.G.) 


Dir. Karl Lange 50,000 
(Geschaftsfuhrendes 

Vostandsmitglied des Vereins 

Deutsches Maschinenbau— 

Anstalten) 


Dr. F. Springorum (Chairman: 36,000 
Eisen-und Stahlwerke Hoesch 
A.G.) 


Source: See Appendix for translation of original document. 


How can we prove that these political payments actually took place? 


The payments to Hitler in this final step on the road to dictatorial Naziism were made 
through the private bank of Delbruck Sehickler. The Delbruck Schickler Bank was a 
subsidiary of Metallgesellschaft A.G. ("Metall"), an industrial giant, the largest non-ferrous 
metal company in Germany, and the dominant influence in the world's nonferrous metal 
‘trading. The principal shareholders of "Metall" were I.G. Farben and the British Metal 
Corporation. We might note incidentally that the British directors on the" Metall" 
Aufsichsrat were Walter Gardner (Amalgamated Metal Corporation) and Captain Oliver 
Lyttelton (also on the board of Amalgamated Metal and paradoxically later in World War II 
to become the British Minister of Production). 


There exists among the Nuremburg Trial papers the original transfer slips from the banking 
division of I.G. Farben and other firms listed on page 110 to the Delbruck Schickler Bank in 
Berlin, informing the bank of the transfer of funds from Dresdner Bank, and other banks, to 
their Nationale Treuhand (National Trusteeship) account. This account was disbursed by 
Rudolf Hess for Nazi Party expenses during the election. Translation of the I.G. Farben 


transfer slip, selected as a sample, is as follows:25 


Translation of I.G, Farben letter of February 27, 1933, advising of transfer of 400,000 
Reichsmarks to National Trusteeship account: 


I.G. FARBENINDUSTRIE AKTIENGESELLSCHAFT 
Bank Department 


Firm: Delbruck Schickler & Co., 

BERLIN W.8 

Mauerstrasse 63/65, Frankfurt (Main) 20 

Our Ref: (Mention in Reply) 27 February 1933 
B./Goe. 


We are informing you herewith that we have authorized the Dresdner Bank in Frankfurt/M., 
to pay you tomorrow forenoon: RM 400,000 which you will use in favor of the account 
"NATIONALE TREUHAND" (National Trusteeship). 


Respectfully, 


1.G. Farbenindustrie 
Aktiengesellschaft 
by Order: 


(Signed) SELCK (Signed) 
BANGERT 


By special delivery. 2° 


At this juncture we should take note of the efforts that have been made to direct our 
attention away from American financiers (and German financiers connected with American- 
affiliated companies) who were, involved with the funding of Hitler. Usually the blame for 
financing Hitler has been exclusively placed upon Fritz Thyssen or Emil Kirdorf. In the 
case of Thyssen this blame was widely circulated in a book allegedly authored by Thyssen 


in the middle of World War II but later repudiated by him. Why Thyssen would want to 
admit such actions before the defeat of Naziism is unexplained. 


Emil Kirdorf, who died in 1937, was always proud of his association with the rise of 
Naziism. The attempt to limit Hitler financing to Thyssen and Kirdorf extended into the 
Nuremburg trials in 1946, and was challenged only by the Soviet delegate. Even the Soviet 
delegate was unwilling to produce evidence of American associations; this is not surprising 
because the Soviet Union depends on the goodwill of these same financiers to transfer much 
needed advanced Western technology to the U.S.S.R. 


At Nuremburg, statements were made and allowed to go unchallenged which were directly 
contrary to the known direct evidence presented above. For example, Buecher, Director 
General of German General Electric, was absolved from sympathy for Hitler: 


Thyssen has confessed his error like a man and has courageously paid a heavy 
penalty for it. On the other side stand men like Reusch of the 
Gutehoffnungshuette, Karl Bosch, the late chairman of the I.G. Farben 
Aufsichtsrat, who would very likely have come to a sad end, had he not died in 
time. Their feelings were shared by the deputy chairman of the Aufsichtsrat of 
Kalle. The Siemens and AEG companies which, next to I.G. Farben, were the 
most powerful German concerns, and they were determined opponents of 
national socialism. 


I know that this unfriendly attitude on the part of the Siemens concern to the 
Nazis resulted in the firm receiving rather rough treatment. The Director 
General of the AEG (Allgemeine Elektrizitats Gesellschaft), Geheimrat 
Buecher, whom I knew from my stay in the colonies, was anything but a Nazi. I 
can assure General Taylor that it is certainly wrong to assert that the leading 
industrialists as such favored Hitler before his seizure of power.28 


Yet on page 56 of this book we reproduce a document originating with General Electric, 
transferring General Electric funds to the National Trusteeship account controlled by Rudolf 
Hess on behalf of Hitler and used in the 1933 elections. 


Similarly, von Schnitzler, who was present at the February 1933 meeting on behalf of 1.G. 
Farben, denied I.G. Farben's contributions to the 1933 Nationale Treuhand: 


I never heard again of the whole matter [that of financing Hitler], but I believe 
that either the buro of Goering or Schacht or the Reichsverband der Deutschen 
Industrie had asked the of fice of Bosch or Schmitz for payment of IG's share in 
the elec tion fund. As I did not take the matter up again I not even at that time 
knew whether and which amount had been paid by the IG. According to the 
volume of the IG, I should estimate IG's share being something like 10 percent 
of the election fund, but as far as I know there is no evidence that I.G. Farben 
participated in the payments.22 


As we have seen, the evidence is incontrovertible regarding political cash contributions to 
Hitler at the crucial point of the takeover of power in Germany — and Hitler's earlier 
speech to the industrialists clearly revealed that a coercive takeover was the premeditated 
intent. 


We know exactly who contributed, how much, and through what channels. It is notable that 
the largest contributors — I.G. Farben, German General Electric (and its affiliated company 
Osram), and Thyssen — were affiliated with Wall Street financiers. These Wall Street 
financiers were at the heart of the financial elite and they were prominent in contemporary 
American politics. Gerard Swope of General Electric was author of Roosevelt's New Deal, 
Teagle was one of NRA's top administrators, Paul Warburg and his associates at American 
I.G. Farben were Roosevelt advisors. It is perhaps not an extraordinary coincidence that 
Roosevelt's New Deal — called a "fascist measure" by Herbert Hoover — should have so 
closely resembled Hitler's program for Germany, and that both Hitler and Roosevelt took 
power in the same month of the same year — March 1933. 


Footnotes: 

I The American Historical Review, Volume LC, NO. 4, July. 1955. p, 830. 
2. $ 

Ibid, fn. (2). 


3Elimination of German Resources, p. 648. The Albert Voegler mentioned in 
the Kilgore Committee list of early Hitler supporters was the German 
representative on the Dawes Plan Commission. Owen Young of General 
Electric (see Chapter Three) was a U.S. representative for the Dawes Plan and 
formulated its successor, the Young Plan. 


4 Antony C. Sutton, Wall Street and the Bolshevik Revolution, op. cit, 
SPreussiche Zettung, January 3, 1937. 


6See p- 116. 


7Glyn Roberts, The Most Powerful Man in the World, (New York: Covicl, 
Friede, 1938), p. 305. 


8Ibid., p. 313. 
9 à 
Ibid., p. 322. 
10See Chambre des Deputes — Debats, February 11, 1932, pp. 496-500. 


NS, Group Control Council (GermanyO Office of the Director of 
Intelligence, Field Information Agency, Technical). Intelligence Report No. 
EF/ME/1,4 September 1945. "Examination of Dr. Fritz Thyssen," p, 13, 
Hereafter cited as Examination of Dr. Fritz Thyssen. 


12The Bank was known in Germany as Bank fur Handel und Schiff. 
'3Examination of Dr. Fritz Thyssen. 


l4Fritz Thyssen, 7 Paid Hitler, (New York: Farrar & Rinehart, Inc., 1941). p. 
159. 


'STaken from Bankers Directory, !932 edition, p, 2557 and Poors, Directory of 
Directors. J.L. Guinter and Knight Woolley were also directors. 


16See Antony C. Sutton, Wall Street and the Bolshevik Revolution, op. cit. 
1 National Cyclopaedia, Volume G, page 16. 


l8For a description of these ventures, based on State Department files, see An, 
tony C. Sutton, Western Technology and Soviet Economic Development, 
Volume 1, op. cit. 


see Antony C. Sutton, Wall Street and FDR. Chapter Nine, "Swope's Plan," 
op. cit. 


See Elimination of German Resources, pp. 728-30. 


2lFor yet other connections between the Union Banking Corp, and German 
enterprises, see Ibid., pp. 728-30. 


See Chapter Ten. 
23NMT, Volume VII, p. 555. 


4 Josiah E. Dubois, Jr., Generals in Grey Suits op. cit., p. 323. 


2 Original reproduced on page 64. 
26NMT, Volume VII, p. 565. See p. 64 for photograph of original document. 


27 Fritz Thyssen, I Paid Hitler, (New York: Toronto: Farrat & Rinehart, Inc., 
1941). 


28NMT, Volume VI, pp. 1169-1170. 


2°NMT, Volume VII, p. 565. 


BACK 


CHAPTER EIGHT 


Putzi: Friend of Hitler and Roosevelt 


Ernst Sedgewiek Hanfstaengl (or Hanfy or Putzi, as he was more usually called), like 
Hjalmar Horaee Greeley Sehacht, was another German-American at the core of the rise of 
Hitlerism. Hanfstaengl was born into a well-known New England family; he was a cousin 
of Civil War General John Sedgewiek and a grandson of another Civil War General, 
William Heine. Introduced to Hitler in the early 1920s by Captain Truman-Smith, the U.S. 
Military Attaehe in Berlin, Putzi became an ardent Hitler supporter, on occasion financed 
the Nazis and, according to Ambassador William Dodd, "... is said to have saved Hitler's 


life in 1923."1 


By coincidence, S.S. leader Heinrich Himmler's father was also Putni's form master at the 
Royal Bavarian Wilhelms gymnasium. Putzi's student day friends at Harvard University 
were "such outstanding future figures" as Walter Lippman, John Reed (who figures 
prominently in Wall Street and the Bolshevik Revolution), and Franklin D. Roosevelt. After 
a few years at Harvard, Putzi established the family art business in New York; it was a 
delightful combination of business and pleasure, for as he says, "the famous names who 
visited me were legion, Pierpont Morgan, Toscanini, Henry Ford, Caruso, Santos-Dumont, 


Charlie Chaplin, Paderewski, and a daughter of President Wilson." It was also at Harvard 
that Putzi made friends with the future President Franklin Delano Roosevelt: 


I took most of my meals at the Harvard Club, where I made friends with the 
young Franklin D. Roosevelt, at that time a rising New York State Senator. 
Also I received several invitations to visit his distant cousin Teddy, the former 
President, who had retired to his estate at Sagamore Hill.3 


From these varied friendships (or perhaps after reading this book and its predecessors, Wall 
Street and FDR and Wall Street and the Bolshevik Revolution, the reader may consider 
Putzi's friendship to have been confined to a peculiarly elitist circle), Putzi became not only 
an early friend, backer and financier of Hitler, but among those early Hitler supporters he 
was, ”., . almost the only person who crossed the lines of his (Hitler's) groups of 


acquaintances."* 


In brief, Putzi was an American citizen at the heart of the Hitler entourage from the early 
1920s to the late 1930s. In 1943, after falling out of favor with the Nazis and interned by the 
Allies, Putzi was bailed out of the miseries of a Canadian prisoner of war camp by his friend 
and protector President Franklin D. Roosevelt. When FDR's actions threatened to become 
an internal political problem in the United States, Putzi was re-interned in England. As if it 
is not surprising enough to find both Heinrich Himmler and Franklin D. Roosevelt 
prominent in Putzi's life, we also discover that the Nazi Stormtrooper marching songs were 
composed by Hanfstaengl, "including the one that was played by the brownshirt columns as 
they marched through the Brandenburger Tor on the day Hitler took over power.> To top 
this eye-opener, Putzi averred that the genesis of the Nazi chant "Sieg Heil, Sieg Heil," used 
in the Nazi mass rallies, was none other than "Harvard, Harvard, Harvard, rah, rah, rah." 


Putzi certainly helped finance the first Nazi daily press, the Volkische Beobachter. Whether 
he saved Hitler's life from the Communists is less verifiable, and while kept out of the 
actual writing process of Mein Kampf — much to his disgust — Putzi did have the honor to 


finance its publication, "and the fact that Hitler found a functioning staff when he was 


released from jail was entirely due to our efforts. a 


When Hitler came to power in March 1933, simultaneously with Franklin Delano Roosevelt 
in Washington, a private "emissary" was sent from Roosevelt in Washington, D.C. to 
Hanfstaengl in Berlin, with a message to the effect that as it appeared Hitler would soon 
achieve power in Germany, Roosevelt hoped, in view of their long acquaintance, that Putzi 
would do his best to prevent any rashness and hot-headedness. "Think of your piano playing 


and try and use the soft pedal if things get too loud," was FDR's message. "If things start 


getting awkward please get in touch with our ambassador at once.® 


Hanfstaengl kept in close touch with the American Ambassador in Berlin, William E. Dodd 
— apparently much to his disgust, because Putzi's recorded comments on Dodd are 
distinctly unflattering: 


In many ways, he [Dodd] was an unsatisfactory representative. He was a 
modest little Southern history professor, who ran his embassy on a shoestring 
and was probably trying to save money out of his pay. At a time when it needed 
a robust millionaire to compete with the flamboyance of the Nazis, he teetered 
around self-effacingly as if he were still on his college campus. His mind and 
his prejudices were small. 


In point of fact Ambassador Dodd pointedly tried to decline Roosevelt's Ambassadorial 
appointment. Dodd had no inheritance and preferred to live on his State Department pay 
rather than political spoils; unlike the politician Dodd was particular from whom he 
received money. In any event, Dodd commented equally harshly on Putzi, "... he gave 
money to Hitler in 1923, helped him write Mein Kampf, and was in every way familiar with 
Hitler's motives ...." 


Was Hanfstaengl an agent for the Liberal Establishment in the U.S.? We can probably rule 
out this possibility because, according to Ladislas Farago, it was Putzi who blew the whistle 
on top-level British penetration of the Hitler command. Farago reports that Baron William 
S. de Ropp had penetrated the highest Nazi echelons in pre-World War II days and Hitler 


used de Ropp "... as his confidental consultant about British affairs !2 De Ropp was 
suspected as being a double agent only by Putzi. According to Farago: 


The only person ... who ever suspected him of such duplicity and cautioned the 
Fuehrer about him was the erratic Putzt Hanfstaengl, the Harvard educated 
chief of Hitler's office dealing with the foreign press. 


As Farago notes, "Bill de Ropp was playing the game In both camps — a double agent at 
the very top." Putzi was equally diligent in warning his friends, the Hermann Goerings, 
about potential spies in their camp. Witness the following extract from Putzi's memoirs, in 


which he points the accusing finger of espionage at the Goerings' gardener.. 


"Herman," I said one day, "I will bet any money that fellow Greinz is a police 


spy." "Now really, Putzi," Karin [Mrs. Herman Goertng] broke in, "he's such a 
nice fellow and he's a wonderful gardener." "He's doing exactly what a spy 
ought to do," I told her, "he has made himself indispensable. "12 


By 1941 Putzi was out of favor with Hitler and the Nazis, fled Germany, and was interned 
in a Canadian prisoner of war camp. With Germany and the United States now at war Putzi 
re-calculated the odds and concluded, "Now I knew for certain that Germany would be 


defeated."13 Putzi's release from the POW camp came with the personal intervention of old 
friend President Roosevelt: 


One day a correspondent of the Hearst press named Kehoe obtained 
permission to visit Fort Hens. I managed to have a few words with him in a 
corner. "I know your boss well," I told him. "Will you do me a small service?" 
Fortunately he recognized my name. 


I gave him a letter, which he slipped into his pocket. It was addressed to the 
American Secretary of State, Cordell Hull. A few days later it was on the desk 
of my Harvard Club friend, Franklin Delano Roosevelt. In it I offered to act as 
a political and psychological warfare adviser in the war against Germany.14 


The response and offer to "work" for the American side was accepted. Putzi was installed in 
comfortable surroundings with his son, U.S. Army Sergeant Egon Hanfstaengl, also there as 
a personal aide. In 1944, under pressure of a Republican threat to blow the whistle on 
Roosevelt's favoritism for a former Nazi, Egon was shipped out to New Guinea and Putzi 
hustled off to England, where the British promptly interned him for the duration of the war, 
Roosevelt or no Roosevelt, 


Putzi's Role in the Reichstag Fire 


Putzi's friendships and political manipulations may or may not be of any great consequence, 
but his role in the Reichstag fire is significant. The firing of the Reichstag on February 27, 
1933 is one of the key events of modern times. The fire was used by Adolf Hitler to claim 
imminent Communist revolution, suspend constitutional rights, and seize totalitarian power. 
From that point on there was no turning back for Germany; the world was set upon the 
course to World War II. 


At the time the firing of the Reichstag was blamed on the Communists, but there is little 
question in historical perspective that the fire was deliberately set by the Nazis to provide an 
excuse to seize political power. Fritz Thyssen commented in the post-war Dustbin 
interrogations: 


When the Reichstag was burned, everyone was sure it had been done by the 
communists. I later learned in Switzerland that it was all a lie.15 


Schacht states quite emphatically: 


Nowadays it would be quite clear that this action could not be fastened on the 
Communist Party. To what extent individual National Socialists co-operated in 


the planning and execution of the deed will be difficult to establish, but in view 
of all that has been revealed in the meantime, the fact must be accepted that 
Goebbels and Goering each played a leading part, the one in planning, the 
other in carrying out the plan.16 


The Reichstag fire was deliberately set, probably utilizing a flammable liquid, by a group of 
experts. This is where Putzi Hanfstaengl comes into the picture. The key question is how 
did this group, bent on arson, gain access to the Reichstag to do the job? After 8 p.m. only 
one door in the main building was unlocked and this door was guarded. Just before 9 p.m. a 
tour of the building by watchmen indicated all was well; no flammable liquids were noticed 
and nothing was out of the ordinary in the Sessions Chamber where the fire started. 
Apparently no one could have gained access to the Reichstag building after 9 p.m., and no 
one was seen to enter or leave between 9 p.m. and the start of the fire. 


There was only one way a group with flammable materials could have entered the Reichstag 
— through a tunnel that ran between the Reichstag and the Palace of the Reichstag 
President. Hermann Goering was president of the Reichstag and lived in the Palace, and 
numerous S.A. and S.S. men were known to be in the Palace. In the words of one author: 


The use of the underground passage, with all its complications, was possible 
only to National-Socialists, the advance and escape of the incendiary gang was 
feasible only with the connivance of highly-placed employees of the Reichstag. 
Every clue, every probability points damningly in one direction, to the 
conclusion that the burning of the Reichstag was the work of National- 
Socialists.17 


How does Putzi Hanfstaengl fit into this picture of arson and political intrigue? 


Putzi — by his own admission — was in the Palace room at the other end of the tunnel 
leading to the Reichstag. And according to The Reichstag Fire Trial, Putzi Hanfstaengl was 
actually in the Palace itself during the fire: 


propaganda apparatus stood ready, and the leaders of the Storm Troopers 
were in their places. With the official bulletins planned in advance, the orders 
of arrest prepared, Karwahne, Frey and Kroyer waiting patiently in their cafe, 
the preparations were complete, the scheme almost perfect.18 


Dimitrov also asserts that: 


The National-Socialist leaders, Hitler, Goering and Goebbels, together with 
the high National-Socialist officials, Daluege, Hanfstaengl and Albrecht, 
happened to be present in Berlin on the day of the fire, despite that the election 
campaign was at its highest pitch throughout Germany, six days before the 
poll. Goering and Goebbels, under oath, furnished contradictory explanations 
for their "fortuitous" presence in Berlin with Hitler on that day. The National- 
Socialist Hanfstaengl, as Goering's "guest," was present in the Palace of the 
Reichstag President, immediately adjacent to the Reichstag, at the time when 
the .fire broke out, although his "host" was not there at that time.19 


According to Nazi Kurt Ludecke, there once existed a document signed by S.A. Leader Karl 
Ernst — who supposedly set the fire and was later murdered by fellow Nazis — which 
implicated Goering, Goebbels, and Hanfstaengl in the conspiracy. 


Roosevelt's New Deal and Hitler's New Order 


Hjalmar Schacht challenged his post-war Nuremburg interrogators with the observation that 
Hitler's New Order program was the same as Roosevelt's New Deal program in the United 
States. The interrogators understandably snorted and rejected the observation. However, a 
little research suggests that not only are the two programs quite similar in content, but that 
Germans had no trouble in observing the similarities. There is in the Roosevelt Library a 


small book presented to FDR by Dr. Helmut Magers in December 1933.20 On the flyleaf of 
this presentation copy is written the inscription, 


To the President of the United States, Franklin D. Roosevelt, in profound 
admiration of his conception of a new economic order and with devotion for his 
personality. The author, Baden, Germany, November 9, 1933. 


FDR's reply to this admiration for his new economic order was as follows:2! 


(Washington) December 19, 1933 


My dear Dr. Magers: I want to send you my thanks for the copy of your little 
book about me and the "New Deal." Though, as you know, I went to school in 
Germany and could speak German with considerable fluency at one time, I am 
reading your book not only with great interest but because it will help my 
German. 


Very sincerely yours, 


The New Deal or the "new economic order" was not a creature of classical liberalism. It 
was a creature of corporate socialism. Big business as reflected in Wall Street strived for a 
state order in which they could control industry and eliminate competition, and this was the 
heart of FDR's New Deal. General Electric, for example, is prominent in both Nazi 
Germany and the New Deal. German General Electric was a prominent financier of Hitler 
and the Nazi Party, and A.E.G. also financed Hitler both directly and indirectly through 
Osram. International General Electric in New York was a major participant in the 
ownership and direction of both A.E.G. and Osram. Gerard Swope, Owen Young, and A. 
Baldwin of General Electric in the United States were directors of A.E.G. However, the 
story does not stop at General Electric and financing of Hitler in 1933. 


In a previous book, Wall Street and the Bolshevik Revolution, the author identified the role 
of General Electric in the Bolshevik Revolution and the geographic location of American 
participants as at 120 Broadway, New York City; the executive offices of General Electric 
were also at 120 Broadway. When Franklin Delano Roosevelt was working in Wall Street, 
his address was also 120 Broadway. In fact, Georgia Warm Springs Foundation, the FDR 
Foundation, was located at 120 Broadway. The prominent financial backer of an early 
Roosevelt Wall Street venture from 120 Broadway was Gerard Swope of General Electric. 
And it was "Swope's Plan" that became Roosevelt's New Deal — the fascist plan that 


Herbert Hoover was unwilling to foist on the United States. In brief, both Hitler's New 
Order and Roosevelt's New Deal were backed by the same industrialists and in content were 
quite similar — i.e., they were both plans for a corporate state. 


There were then both corporate and individual bridges between FDR,s America and Hitler's 
Germany. The first bridge was the American I.G. Farben, American affiliate of I.G. Farben, 
the largest German corporation. On the board of American I.G. sat Paul Warburg, of the 
Bank of Manhattan and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The second bridge was 
between International General’ Electric, a wholly owned subsidiary of General Electric 
Company and its partly owned affiliate in Germany, A.E.G. Gerard Swope, who formulated 
FDR's New Deal, was chairman of I.G.E. and on the board of A.E.G. The third "bridge" 
was between Standard Oil of New Jersey and Vacuum Oil and its wholly owned German 
subsidiary, Deutsche-Amerikanisehe Gesellschaft. The chairman of Standard Oil of New 
Jersey was Walter Teagle, of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. He was a trustee of 
Franklin Delano Roosevelt's Georgia Warm Springs Foundation and appointed by FDR to a 
key administrative post in the National Recovery Administration. 


These corporations were deeply involved in both the promotion of Roosevelt's New Deal 
and the construction of the military power of Nazi Germany. Putzi Hanfstaengl's role in the 
early days, up to the mid-1930s anyway, was an informal link between the Nazi elite and 
the White House. After the mid-1930s, when the world was set on the course for war, Putzis 
importance declined — while American Big Business continued to be represented through 
such intermediaries as Baron Kurt von Schroder attorney Westrick, and membership in 
Himmler's Circle of Friends. 


Footnotes: 


lWiliam E. Dodd, Ambassador Dodd's Diary, 1933-1938, (New York: 
Harcourt, Brace & Co., 1941), p. 360. 


Ernst Hanfstaengl, Unheard Witness, (New York: J.B. Lippincott, 1957), p. 
28. 


3Ibid., p. 

Abid., p. 52. 
SIbid., p. 53. 
Ibid., p. 59. 
TTbid., p. 122. 
$Ibid., pp. 197-8. 


Ibid., p. 214. 


101 adislas Farago, The Game of the Foxes, (New York: Bantam, 1973), p. 97. 
bid., p. 106. 

Ernst Hanfstaengl, Unheard Witness, op. cit., p. 76. 

Tid. 

'Tbid., pp. 310-11. 

Dustbin report EF/Me/l. Interview of Thyssen, p. 13. 


1H jalmar Horace Greeley Schacht, Confessions of" The Old Wizard," (Boston: 
Houghton Mifflin, 1956), p. 276. 


'7George Dimitrov, The Reichstag Fire Trial, (London: The Bodley Head, 
1934), p. 309. 


'81bid., p. 310. 
19Tbid., p. 311. 


0Helmut Magers, Ein Revolutionar Aus Common Sense, (Leipzig: R. Kittler 
Verlag, 1934). 


2INixon, Edgar B., Editor, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Foreign Affairs, 
(Cambridge: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1969), Volume 1: 
January 1933-February 1934. Franklin D. Roosevelt Library. Hyde Park, New 
York. 


BACK 


CHAPTER NINE 


Wall Street and the Nazi Inner Circle 


During the entire period of our business contacts we. had no inkling of 
Farben's conniving part in Hitler's brutal policies. We offer any help we can 
give to see that complete truth is brought to light and that rigid justice is done. 
(F. W. Abrams, Chairman of the Board, Standard Oil of New Jersey, 1946.) 


Adolf Hitler, Hermann Goering, Josef Goebbels, and Heinrich Himmler, the inner group of 
Naziism, were at the same time heads of minor fiefdoms within the Nazi State. Power 
groups or political cliques were centered around these Nazi leaders, more importantly after 
the late 1930s around Adolf Hitler and Heinrich Himmler, Reich-Leader of the S.S. (the 
dreaded Schutzstaffel). The most important of these Nazi inner circles was created by order 
of the Fuehrer; it was known first as the Keppler Circle and later as Himmler's Circle of 
Friends. 


The Keppler Circle originated as a group of German businessmen supporting Hitler's rise to 
power before and during 1933. In the mid-1930s the Keppler Circle came under the 
influence and protection of S.S. chief Himmler and the organizational control of Cologne 
banker and prominent Nazi businessman Kurt von Schroder. Schroder, it will be recalled, 
was head of the J.H. Stein Bank in Germany and affiliated with the L. Henry Schroder 
Banking Corporation of New York. It is within this innermost of the inner circles, the very 
core of Naziism, that we find Wall Street, including Standard Oil of New Jersey and I.T.T., 
represented from 1933 to as late as 1944. 


Wilhelm Keppler, founder of the original Circle of Friends, typifies the well-known 
phenomenon of a politicized businessman — i.e., a businessman who cultivates the political 
arena rather than the impartial market place for his profits. Such businessmen have been 
interested In promoting socialist causes, because a planned socialist society provides a most 
lucrative opportunity for contracts through political influence. 


Scenting such profitable opportunities, Keppler joined the national socialists and was close 
to Hitler before 1933. The Circle of Friends grew out of a meeting between Adolf Hitler and 
Wilhelm Keppler in December 1931. During the course of their conversation — this was 
several years before Hitler became dictator — the future Fuehrer expressed a wish to have 
reliable German businessmen available for economic advice when the Nazis took power. 
"Try to get a few economic leaders — they need not be Party members — who will be at 


our disposal when we come into power.! This Keppler undertook to do. 


In March 1933 Keppler was elected to the Reichstag and became Hitler's financial expert. 
This lasted only briefly. Keppler was replaced by the infinitely more capable Hjalmar 
Schacht, and sent to Austria where in 1938 he became Reichs Commissioner, but still able 
to use his position to acquire considerable power in the Nazi State. Within a few years he 
captured a string of lucrative directorships in German firms, including chairman of the 
board of two I.G. Farben subsidiaries: Braunkohle-Benzin A.G. and Kontinental Oil A.G. 


Braunkohle-Benzin was the German exploiter of the Standard Oil of New Jersey technology 
for production of gasoline from coal. (See Chapter Four.) 


In brief, Keppler war the chairman of the very firm that utilized American technology for 
the indispensible synthetic gasoline which enabled the Wehrmacht to go to war in 1939. 
This is significant because, when linked with other evidence presented in this chapter, it 
suggests that the profits and control of these fundamentally important technologies for 
German military ends were retained by a small group of international firms and 
businessmen operating across national borders. 


Keppler's nephew, Fritz Kranefuss, under his uncle's protection, also gained prominence 
both as Adjutant to S.S. Chief Heinrich Himmler and as a businessman and political 
operator. It was Kranefuss' link with Himmler which led to the Keppler circle gradually 
drawing away from Hitler in the 1930s to come within Himmler's orbit, where in exchange 
for annual donations to Himmler's pet S.S. projects Circle members received political favors 
and not inconsiderable protection from the S.S. 


Baron Kurt von Schroder was, as we have noted, the I.T.T. representative in Nazi Germany 
and an early member of the Keppler Circle. The original Keppler Circle consisted of: 


THE ORIGINAL (PRE-1932) MEMBERS OF THE 


KEPPLER CIRCLE 

Circle Member Main Associations 

Wilhelm KEPPLER Chairman of I.G. Farben 
subsidiary Braunkohle-Benzin 
A.G. (exploited Standard Oil of 
N.J. oil from coal technology) 

Fritz KRANEFUSS Keppler's nephew and Adjutant 
to Heinrich Himmler. On 
Vorstand of BRABAG 

Kurt von SCHRODER On board of all International 
Telephone & Telegraph 


subsidiaries in Germany 
Karl Vincenz KROGMANN Lord Mayor of Hamburg 


August ROSTERG General Director of 
WINTERSHALL 
Emil MEYER On the board of I.T.T. 


subsidiaries and German 
General Electric. 

Otto STEINBRINCK Vice president of 
VEREINIGTE 
STAHLWERKE (steel cartel 
founded with Wall Street loans 


in 1926) 
Hjalmar SCHACHT President of the REICHSBANK 
Emil HELFFRICH Board chairman of GERMAN- 
AMERICAN PETROLEUM 


CO. (94-percent owned by 


Standard Oil of New Jersey) 
(See above under Wilhelm 
Keppler) 

Friedrich REINHARDT Board chairman 
COMMERZBANK 


Ewald HECKER Board chairman of ILSEDER 
HUTTE 


Graf von BISMARCK Government president of 
STETTIN 


The S.S. Circle of Friends 


The original Circle of Friends met with Hitler in May 1932 and heard a statement of Nazi 
objectives. Heinrich Himmler then became a frequent participant in the meetings, and 
through Himmler, various S.S. officers as well as other businessmen joined the group. This 
expanded group in time became Himmler's Circle of Friends, with Himmler acting as 
protector and expeditor for its members. 


Consequently, banking and Industrial interest — were heavily represented in the inner circle 
of Naziism, and their pre-1933 financial contributions to Hitlerism which we have earlier 
enumerated were amply repaid. Of the "Big Five" German banks, the Dresdner Bank had 
the closest connections with the Nazi Party: at least a dozen members of Dresdner Bank's 
board of directors had high Nazi rank and no fewer than seven Dresdner Bank directors 
were among Keppler's expanded Circle of Friends, which never exceeded 40. 


When we examine the names comprising both the original pre-1933 Keppler Circle and the 
post-1933 expanded Keppler and Himmler's Circle, we find the Wall Street multi-nationals 
heavily represented — more so than any other institutional group. Let us take each Wall 
Street multinational or its German associate in turn — those identified in Chapter Seven as 
linked to financing Hitler — and examine their links to Keppler and Heinrich Himmler. 


I.G. Farben and the Keppler Circle 


I.G. Farben was heavily represented within the Keppler Circle: no fewer than eight out of 
the peak circle membership of 40 were directors of I.G. Farben or a Farben subsidiary. 
These eight members included the previously described Wilhelm Keppler and his nephew 
Kranefuss, in addition to Baron Kurt von Schroder. The Farben presence was emphasized 
by member Hermann Schmitz, chairman of I.G. Farben and a director of Vereinigte 
Stahlwerke, both cartels built and consolidated by the Wall Street loans of the 1920s. A 
U.S. Congressional report described Hermann Schmitz as follows: 


Hermann Schmitz, one of the most important persons in Germany, has achieved 
outstanding success simultaneously in the three separate fields, industry, 
finance, and government, and has served with zeal and devotion every 
government in power. He symbolizes the German citizen who out of the 
devastation of the First World War made possible the Second. 


Tronically, his may be said to be the greater guilt in that in 1919 he was a 
member of the Reich's peace delegation, and in the 1930's was in a position to 
teach the Nazis much that theft had to know concerning economic penetration, 
cartel uses, synthetic materials for war.2 


Another Keppler Circle member on the I.G. Farben board was Friedrich Flick, creator of the 
steel cartel Vereinigte Stahlwerke and a director of Allianz Versicherungs A.G. and German 
General Electric (A.E.G.). 


Heinrich Schmidt, a director of Dresdner Bank and chairman of the board of I.G. Farben 
subsidiary Braunkohle-Benzin A.G., was in the circle; so was Karl Rasehe, another director 
of the Dresdner Bank and a director of Metallgesellschaft (parent of the Delbruck Schickler 
Bank) and Accumulatoren-Fabriken A.G. Heinrich Buetefisch was also a director of LG. 
Farben and a member of the Keppler Circle. In brief, the I.G. Farben contribution to Rudolf 
Hess' Nationale Treuhand — the political slush fund — was confirmed after the 1933 
takeover by heavy representation in the Nazi inner circle. 


How many of these Keppler Circle members in the I.G. Farben complex were affiliated with 
Wall Street? 


MEMBERS OF THE ORIGINAL KEPPLER CIRCLE 
ASSOCIATED WITH U.S. MULTI-NATIONALS 


Member of Standard Oil General 
Keppler Circle I.G. Farben I.T.T. of New Jersey Electric 
Wilhelm Chairman of 
KEPPLER Farben u 

subsidiary 
BRABAG 
Fritz On Aufsichrat o 
KRANEFUSS of BRABAG 
Emil Heinrich On board of Board of 
MEYER all LT.T. A.E.G. 
German 
subsidiaries: = 
Standard/Mix 
& 
Genest/Lorenz 
Emil Chairman of 
HELFFRICH DAPAG (94- 


percent owned 
by Standard of 
New Jersey 
Friedrich I.G. Farben o Board of 
FLICK A.E.G. 
Kurt von On board of all 
SCHRODER L.T.T. 
subsidiaries in 
Germany 


Similarly, we can identify other Wall Street institutions represented in the early Keppler's 
Circle of Friends, confirming their monetary contributions to the National Trusteeship Fund 
operated by Rudolf Hess on behalf of Adolf Hitler. These representatives were Emil 
Heinrich Meyer and banker Kurt von Schroder on the boards of all the I.T.T. subsidiaries in 
Germany, and Emil Helffrich, the board chairman of DAPAG, 94-percent owned by 
Standard Oil of New Jersey. 


Wall Street in the S.S. Circle 


Major U.S. multi-nationals were also very well represented in the later Heinrich Himmler 
Circle and made cash contributions to the S.S. (the Sonder Konto S) up to 1944 — while 
World War II was in progress. 


Almost a quarter of the 1944 Sonder Konto S contributions came from subsidiaries of 
International Telephone and Telegraph, represented by Kurt von Schröder. The 1943 
payments from I.T.T. subsidiaries to the Special Account were as follows: 


Mix & Genest A.G. 5,000 RM 

C. Lorenz AG 20,000 RM 
Felten & Guilleaume 25,000 RM 
Kurt von Schroder 16,000 RM 


And the 1944 payments were: 


Mix & Genest A.G. 5,000 RM 

C. Lorenz AG 20,000 RM 
Felten & Guilleaume 20,000 RM 
Kurt von Schroder 16,000 RM 


Sosthenes Behn of International Telephone and Telegraph transferred wartime control of 
Mix & Genest, C. Lorenz, and the other Standard Telephone interests in Germany to Kurt 
von Schroder — who was a founding member of the Keppler Circle and organizer and 
treasurer of Himmler's Circle of Friends. Emil H. Meyer, S.S. Untersturmfuehrer, member 
of the Vorstand of the Dresdner Bank, A.E.G., and a director of all the I.T.T. subsidiaries in 
Germany, was also a member of the Himmler Circle of Friends — giving I.T.T. two 
powerful representatives at the heart of the S.S. 


A letter to fellow member Emil Meyer from Baron von Schroder dated February 25, 1936 
describes the purposes and requirements of the Himmler Circle and the long-standing nature 
of the Special Account 'S' with funds at Schroder's own bank — the J,H. Stein Bank of 
Cologne: 


Berlin, 25 
February 1936 
(Illegible 
handwriting) 


To Prof. Dr. Emil H. Meyer 

S.S. (Untersturmfuchrer) (second lieutenant) Member of the Managing Board 
(Vorstand) of the Dresdner Bank 

Berlin W. 56, 

Behrenstr. 38 


Personal! 
To the Circle of Friends of the Reich Leader SS 


At the end of the 2 day's inspection tour of Munich to which the Reich Leader 
SS had invited us last January, the Circle of Friends agreed to put — each one 
according to his means — at the Reich Leader's disposal into "Special Account 
S" (Sonder Konto S), to be established at the banking firm J.H. Stein in 
Cologne, funds which are to be used for certain tasks outside of the budget. 
This should enable the Reich Leader to rely on all his friends. In Munich it was 
decided that the undersigned would make themselves available for setting up 
and handling this account. In the meantime the account was set up and we want 
every participant to know that in case he wants to make contributions to the 
Reich Leader for the aforementioned tasks — either on behalf of his firm or the 
Circle of Friends — payments may be made to the banking firm J.H. Stein, 
Cologne (Clearing Account of the Reich Bank, Postal Checking Acount No. 
1392) to the Special Account S. 


: Heil Hitler! 


(Signed) Kurt 
Baron von 
Sehroder 
(Signed) 
Steinbrinck? 


This letter also explains why U.S. Army Colonel Bogdan, formerly of the Schroder Banking 
Corporation in New York, was anxious to divert the attention of post-war U.S. Army 
investigators away from the J. H. Stein Bank in Cologne to the "bigger banks" of Nazi 
Germany. It was the Stein Bank that held the secrets of the associations of American 
subsidiaries with Nazi authorities while World War II was in progress. The New York 
financial interests could not know the precise nature of these transactions (and particularly 
the nature of any records that may have been kept by their German associates), but they 
knew that some record could well exist of their war-time dealings — enough to embarrass 
them with the American public. It was this possibility that Colonel Bogdan tried 
unsuccessfully to head off. 


German General Electric profited greatly from its association with Himmler and other 
leading Nazis. Several members of the Schroder clique were directors of A.E.G., the most 
prominent being Robert Pferdmenges, who was not only a member of the Keppler or 
Himmler Circles but was a partner in the aryanized banking house Pferdmenges & 
Company, the successor to the former Jewish banking house Sal Oppenheim of Cologne. 
Waldemar von Oppenheim achieved the dubious distinction (for a German Jew) of 


"honorary Aryan" and was able to continue his old established banking house under Hitler 
in partnership with Pferdmenges. 


MEMBERS OF THE HIMMLER CIRCLE OF FRIENDS WHO 
WERE ALSO DIRECTORS OF AMERICAN-AFFILIATED 
FIRMS: 


Standard 
Oil of New 
I.G. Farben LT.T. A.E.G. Jersey 


KRANEFUSS, Fritz 
KEPPLER, Wilhelm 


SCHRODER, Kurt x x 
Von 


BUETEFISCH, x 
Heinrich 


RASCHE, Dr. Karl 
FLICK, Friedrich x x 
LINDEMANN, Karl x 


SCHMIDT, x 
Heinrich 


ROEHNERT, x 
Kellmuth 


SCHMIDT, Kurt x 
MEYER, Dr. Emil x 


SCHMITZ, x 
Hermann 


Pferdmenges was also a director of A.E.G. and used his Nazi influence to good advantage.* 


Two other directors of German General Electric were members of Himmler's Circle of 
Friends and made 1943 and 1944 monetary contributions to the Sonder Konto S. These 
were: 


Friedrich Flick 100,000 RM 


Otto Steinbrinck 100,000 RM 
(a Flick associate) 


Kurt Schmitt was chairman of the board of directors of A.E.G. and a member of the 
Himmler Circle of Friends, but Schmitt's name is not recorded in the list of payments for 
1943 or 1944. 


Standard Oil of New Jersey also made a significant contribution to Himmler's Special 
Account through its wholly owned (94 percent) German subsidiary, Deutsche- 
Amerikanische Gesellschaft (DAG). In 1943 and 1944 DAG contributed as follows: 


Staatsrat Helfferich of Deutsch- 10,000 RM 


Amerikanische Petroleum A.G. 


Staatsrat Lindemann of 10,000 RM 
Deutsch- 4,000 RM 
Amerikanische Petroleum A.G. 

and personally 


It is important to note that Staatsrat Lindemann contributed 4,000 RM personally, thus 
making a clear distinction between the corporate contribution of 10,000 RM from Standard 
Oil of New Jersey's wholly owned subsidiary and the personal contribution from director 
Linde-mann. In the case of Staatsrat Hellfrich, the only contribution was the Standard Oil 
contribution of 10,000 RM; there is no recorded personal donation. 


1.G. Farben, parent company of American I.G. (see Chapter Two), was another significant 
contributor to Heinrich Himmler's Sonder Konto S. There were four I.G. Farben directors 
within the inner circle: Karl Rasehe, Fritz Kranefuss, Heinrich Schmidt, and Heinrich 
Buetefisch. Karl Rasche was a member of the management committee of the Dresdner Bank 
and a specialist in international law and banking. Under Hitler Karl Rasche became a 
prominent director of many German corporations, including Accumulatoren-Fabrik A.G. in 
Berlin, which financed Hitler; the Metallgesellschaft; and Felten & Guilleame, an I.T.T. 
company. Fritz Kranefuss was a member of the board of directors of Dresdner Bank and a 
director of several corporations besides I.G. Farben. Kranefuss, nephew of Wilhelm 
Keppler, was a lawyer and prominent in many Nazi public organizations. Heinrich Schmidt, 
a director of I.G. Farben and several other German companies, was also a director of the 
Dresdner Bank. 


It is important to note that all three of the above — Rasche, Kranefuss, and Schmidt — 
were directors of an I.G. Farben subsidiary, Braunkohle-Benzin A.G. — the manufacturer 
of German synthetic gasoline using Standard Oil technology, a result of the I.G. Farben- 
Standard Oil agreements of the early 1930s. 


In brief, the Wall Street financial elite was well represented in both the early Keppler Circle 
and the later Himmler Circle.> 


Footnotes: 
From the affidavit of Wilhem Keppler, NMT, Volume VI, p. 285. 
?Elimination of German Resources, p. 869. 


3NMT, Volume VU, p. 238. "Translation of Document N1-10103, Prosecution 
Exhibit 788." Letter from von Schroder and Defendant Steinbrinck to Dr. 
Meyer, Dresdner Bank official, 25 February 1936, noting that the Circle of 
Friends would put funds at Himmler's disposal "For Certain Tasks outside of 
the Budget" and had established a "Special Account for this purpose." 


*Elimination of German Resources, p. 857. 


>The significant nature of this representation is reflected in Chart 8-1, "Wall 
Street representation in the Keppler and Himmler Circles, 1933 and 1944." 


BACK 


CHAPTER TEN 


The Myth of "Sidney Warburg" 


A vital question, only partly resolved, is the extent to which Hitler's accession to power in 
1933 was aided directly by Wall Street financiers. We have shown with original 
documentary evidence that there was indirect American participation and support through 
German affiliated firms, and (as for example in the case of I.T.T.) there was a 
knowledgeable and deliberate effort to benefit from the support of the Nazi regime. Was 
this indirect financing extended to direct financing? 


After Hitler gained power, U.S. firms and individuals worked on behalf of Naziism and 
certainly profited from the Nazi state. We know from the diaries of William Dodd, the 
American Ambassador to Germany, that in 1933 a stream of Wall Street bankers and 
industrialists filed through the U.S. Embassy in Berlin, expressing their admiration for 
Adolf Hitler — and anxious to find ways to do business with the new totalitarian regime. 
For example, on September 1, 1933 Dodd recorded that Henry Mann of the National City 
Bank and Winthrop W. Aldrich of the Chase Bank both met with Hitler and "these bankers 


feel they can work with him." Ivy Lee, the Rockefeller public relations agent, according to 


Dodd "showed himself at once a capitalist and an advocate of Fascism."2 


So at least we can identify a sympathetic response to the new Nazi dictatorship, reminiscent 
of the manner in which Wall Street international bankers greeted the new Russia of Lenin 
and Trotsky in 1917. 


Who Was "Sidney Warburg"? 


The question posed in this chapter is the accusation that some Wall Street financiers (the 
Rockefellers and Warburgs specifically have been accused) directly planned and financed 
Hitler's takeover in 1933, and that they did this from Wall Street. On this question the so- 


called myth of "Sidney Warburg" is relevant. Prominent Nazi Franz von Papen has stated in 


his Memoirs:3 


... the most documented account of the National Socialists' sudden acquisition 
of funds was contained in a book published in Holland in 1933, by the old 
established Amsterdam publishing house of Van Holkema & Warendorf, called 
De Geldbronnen van Het Nationaal-Socialisme (Drie Gesprekken Met Hitler) 
under the name "Sidney Warburg." 


A book with this title in Dutch by "Sidney Warburg" was indeed published in 1933, but 


remained on the book stalls in Holland only for a matter of days. The book was purged.* 
One of three surviving original copies was translated into English. The translation was at 
one time deposited in the British Museum, but is now withdrawn from public circulation 
and is unavailable for research. Nothing is now known of the original Dutch copy upon 
which this English translation was based. 


The second Dutch copy was owned by Chancellor Schussnigg in Austria, and nothing is 
known of its present whereabouts. The third Dutch copy found its way to Switzerland and 
was translated into German. The German translation has survived down to the present day 
in the Schweizerischen Sozialarchiv in Zurich, Switzerland. A certified copy of the 
authenticated German translation of this Swiss survivor was purchased by the author in 
1971 and translated into English. It is upon this English translation of the German 
translation that the text in this chapter is based. 


Publication of the "Sidney Warburg" book was duly reported in the New York Times 
(November 24, 1933) under the title "Hoax on Nazis Feared." A brief article noted that a 
"Sidney Warburg" pamphlet has appeared in Holland, and the author is not the son of Felix 
Warburg. The translator is J. G. Shoup, a Belgian newspaperman living in Holland. The 
publishers and Shoup "are wondering if they have not been the victims of a hoax." The 
Times account adds: 


The pamphlet repeats an old story to the effect that leading Americans, 
including John D. Rockefeller, financed Hitler from 1929 to 1932 to the extent 
of $32,000,000, their motive being"to liberate Germany from the financial grip 
of France by bringing about a revolution-" Many readers of the pamphlet have 
pointed out that it contains many inaccuracies. 


Why was the Dutch original withdrawn from circulation in 1933? Because "Sidney 
Warburg" did not exist and a "Sidney Warburg" was claimed as the author. Since 1933 the 
"Sidney Warburg" book has been promoted by various parties both as a forgery and as a 
genuine document. The Warburg family itself has gone to some pains to substantiate its 
falsity. 


What does the book report? What does the book claim happened in Germany in the early 
1930s? And do these events have any resemblance to facts we know to be true from other 
evidence? 


From the viewpoint of research methodology it is much more preferable to assume that the 
"Sidney Warburg" book is a forgery, unless we can prove the contrary. This is the 
procedure we shall adopt. The reader may well ask — then why bother to look closely at a 
possible forgery? There are at least two good reasons, apart from academic curiosity. 


First, the Warburg claim that the book is a forgery has a curious and vital flaw. The 
Warburgs deny as false a book they admit not to have read t nor even seen. The Warburg 
denial is limited specifically to non-authorship by a Warburg. This denial is acceptable; but 
it does not deny or reject the validity of the contents. The denial merely repudiates 
authorship. 


Second, we have already identified I.G. Farben as a key financier and backer of Hitler. We 
have provided photographic evidence (page 64) of the bank transfer slip for 400,000 marks 
from I.G. Farben to Hitler's "Nationale Treuhand" political slush fund account administered 
by Rudolf Hess. Now it is probable, almost certain, that "Sidney Warburg" did not exist. On 
the other hand, it is a matter of public record that the Warburgs were closely connected with 
I.G. Farben in Germany and the United States. In Germany Max Warburg was a director of 
I.G. Farben and in the United States brother Paul Warburg (father of James Paul Warburg) 
was a director of American I.G. Farben. In brief, we have incontrovertible evidence that 


some Warburgs, including the father of James Paul, the denouncer of the "Sidney Warburg" 
book, were directors of I.G. Farben. And I.G. Farben is known to have financed Hitler. 
"Sidney Warburg" was a myth, but I.G. Farben directors Max Warburg and Paul Warburg 
were not myths. This is reason enough to push further. 


Let us first summarize the book which James Paul Warburg claims is a forgery. 


A Synopsis of the Suppressed "Sidney Warburg" Book 


The Financial Sources of National Socialism opens with an alleged conversation between 
"Sidney Warburg" and joint author/translator I. G. Shoup. "Warburg" relates why he was 
handing Shoup an English language manuscript for translation into Dutch and publication in 
Holland In the words of the mythical "Sidney Warburg": 


There are moments when I want to turn away from a world of such intrigue, 
trickery, swindling and tampering with the stock exchange .... Do you know 
what I can never under stand? How it is possible that people of good and 
honest character — for which I have ample proof — participate in swindling 
and fraud, knowing full well that it will affect thousands. 


Shoup then describes "Sidney Warburg" as "son of one of the largest bankers in the United 
States, member of the banking firm Kuhn, Loeb & Co., New York." "Sidney Warburg" then 
tells Shoup that he ("Warburg") wants to record for history how national socialism was 
financed by New York financiers. 


The first section of the book is entitled simply "1929." It relates that in 1929 Wall Street 
had enormous credits outstanding in Germany and Austria, and that these claims had, for 
the most part, been frozen. While France was economically weak and feared Germany, 
France was also getting the "lion's share" of reparations funds which were actually financed 
from the United States. In June 1929, a meeting took place between the members of the 
Federal Reserve Bank and leading American bankers to decide what to do about France, 
and particularly to cheek her call on German reparations. This meeting was attended 
(according to the "Warburg" book) by the directors of Guaranty Trust Company, the 
"Presidents" of the Federal Reserve Banks, in addition to five independent bankers, "young 
Rockefeller," and Glean from Royal Dutch Shell. Carter and Rockefeller according to the 
text "dominated the proceedings. The others listened and nodded their heads." 


The general consensus at the bankers' meeting was that the only way to free Germany from 
French financial clutches was by revolution, either Communist or German Nationalist. At 
an earlier meeting it had previously been agreed to contact Hitler to "try to find out if he 
were amenable to American financial support." Now Rockefeller reportedly had more 
recently seen a German-American leaflet about the Hitler national socialist movement and 
the purpose of this second meeting was to determine if "Sidney Warburg" was prepared to 
go to Germany as a courier to make personal contact with Hitler. 


In return for proferred financial support, Hitler would be expected to conduct an "aggressive 
foreign policy and stir up the idea of revenge against France." This policy, it was 
anticipated, would result in a French appeal to the United States and England for assistance 
in "international questions involving the eventual German aggression." Hitler was not to 


know about the purpose of Wall Street's assistance. It would be left "to his reason and 
resourcefulness to discover the motives behind the proposal." "Warburg" accepted the 
proposed mission and left New York for Cherbourg on the /le de France, "with a diplomatic 
passport and letters of recommendation from Carter, Tommy Walker, Rockefeller, Glean 
and Herbert Hoover." 


Apparently, "Sidney Warburg" had some difficulty in meeting Hitler. The American Consul 
in Munich did not succeed in making contact with the Nazis, and finally Warburg went 
directly to Mayor Deutzberg of Munich, "with a recommendation from the American 
Consul," and a plea to guide Warburg to Hitler. Shoup then presents extracts from Hitler's 
statements at this initial meeting. These extracts include the usual Hitlerian anti-Semitic 
rantings, and it should be noted that all the anti, Semitic parts in the "Sidney Warburg" book 
are spoken by Hitler. (This is important because James Paul Warburg claims the Shoup 
book is totally anti-Semitic.) Funding of the Nazis was discussed at this meeting and Hitler 
is reported to insist that funds could not be deposited in a German bank but only in a foreign 
bank at his disposal. Hitler asked for 100 million marks and suggested that "Sidney 


Warburg" report on the Wall Street reaction through von Heydt at Lutzowufer, 18 Berlin.> 


After reporting back to Wall Street, Warburg learned that $24 million was too much for the 
American bankers; they offered $10 million. Warburg contacted von Heydt and a further 
meeting was arranged, this time with an "undistinguished looking man, introduced to me 
under the name Frey." Instructions were given to make $10 million available at the 
Mendelsohn & Co. Bank in Amsterdam, Holland. Warburg was to ask the Mendelsohn 
Bank to make out checks in marks payable to named Nazis in ten German cities. 
Subsequently, Warburg travelled to Amsterdam, completed his mission with Mendelsohn & 
Co., then went to Southampton, England and took the Olympia back to New York where he 
reported to Carter at Guaranty Trust Company. Two days later Warburg gave his report to 
the entire Wall Street group, but "this time an English representative was there sitting next 
to Glean from Royal Dutch, a man named Angell, one of the heads of the Asiatic Petroleum 
Co." Warburg was questioned about Hitler, and "Rockefeller showed unusual interest in 
Hitler's statements about the Communists." 


A few weeks after Warburg's return from Europe the Hearst newspapers showed "unusual 
interest” in the new German Nazi Party and even the New York Times carried regular short 
reports of Hitler's speeches. Previously these newspapers had not shown too much interest, 


but that now changed.® Also, in December 1929 a long study of the German National 
Socialist movement appeared "in a monthly publication at Harvard University." 


Part II of the suppressed "Financial Sources of National Socialism" is entitled "1931" and 
opens with a discussion of French influence on international politics. It avers that Herbert 
Hoover promised Pierre Laval of France not to resolve the debt question without first 
consulting the French government and [writes Shoup]: 


When Wall Street found out about this Hoover lost the respect of this circle at 
one blow. Even the subsequent elections were affected — many believed that 
Hoover's failure to get reelected can be traced back to the issue.7 


In October 1931, Warburg received a letter from Hitler which he passed on to Carter at 
Guaranty Trust Company, and subsequently another bankers' meeting was called at the 
Guaranty Trust Company of-rices. Opinions at this meeting were divided. "Sidney 


Warburg" reported that Rockefeller, Carter, and McBean were for Hitler, while the other 
financiers were uncertain. Montague Norman of the Bank of England and Glean of Royal 
Dutch Shell argued that the $10 million already spent on Hitler was too much, that Hitler 
would never act. The meeting finally agreed in principle to assist Hitler further, and 
Warburg again undertook a courier assignment and went back to Germany. 


On this trip Warburg reportedly discussed German affairs with "a Jewish banker" in 
Hamburg, with an industrial magnate, and other Hitler supporters. One meeting was with 
banker von Heydt and a "Luetgebrunn." The latter stated that the Nazi storm troopers were 
incompletely equipped and the S.S. badly needed machine guns, revolvers, and carbines. 


In the next Warburg-Hitler meeting, Hitler argued that "the Soviets cannot miss our 
industrial products yet. We will give credit, and if I am not able to deflate France myself, 
then the Soviets will help me." Hitler said he had two plans for takeover in Germany: (a) the 
revolution plan, and (b), the legal takeover plan. The first plan would be a matter of three 
months, the second plan a matter of three years. Hitler was quoted as saying, "revolution 
costs five hundred million marks, legal takeover costs two hundred million marks — what 
will your bankers decide?" After five days a cable from Guaranty Trust arrived for Warburg 
and is cited in the book as follows: 


Suggested amounts are out of the question. We don't want to and cannot. 
Explain to man that such a transfer to Europe will shatter financial market. 
Absolutely unknown on international territory. Expect long report, before 
decision is made. Stay there. Continue investigation. Persuade man of 
impossible demands. Don't forget to include in report own opinion of 
possibilities for future of man. 


Warburg cabled his report back to New York and three days later received a second 
cablegram reading: 


Report received. Prepare to deliver ten, maximum fifteen million dollars. 
Advise man necessity of aggression against foreign danger. 


The $15 million was accepted for the legal takeover road, not for the revolutionary plan. 
The money was transferred from Wall Street to Hitler via Warburg as follows — $5 million 
to be paid at Mendelsohn & Company, Amsterdam; $5 million at the Rotterdamsehe 
Bankvereinigung in Rotterdam; and $5 million at "Banca Italiana." 


Warburg travelled to each of these banks, where he reportedly met Heydt, Strasser and 
Hermann Goering. The groups arranged for cheeks to be made out to different names in 
various towns in Germany. In other words, the funds were "laundered" in the modern 
tradition to disguise their Wall Street origins. In Italy the payment group was reportedly 
received at the main building of the bank by its president and while waiting in his office two 
Italian fascists, Rossi and Balbo, were introduced to Warburg, Heydt, Strasser, and Goering. 
Three days after payment, Warburg returned to New York from Genoa on the Savoya. 
Again, he reported to Carter, Rockefeller, and the other bankers. 


The third section of "Financial Sources of National Soeialism" is entitled simply "1933." 
The section records "Sidney Warburg's" third and last meeting with Hitler — on the night 
the Reichstag was burned. (We noted in Chapter Eight the presence of Roosevelt's friend 


Putzi Hanfstaengl in the Reichstag.) At this meeting Hitler informed Warburg of Nazi 
progress towards legal takeover. Since 1931 the Nationalist Socialist party had tripled in 
size. Massive deposits of weapons had been made near the German border in Belgium, 
Holland, and Austria — but these weapons required cash payments before delivery. Hitler 
asked for a minimum of 100 million marks to take care of the final step in the takeover 
program. Guaranty Trust wired Warburg offering $7 million at most, to be paid as follows 
— $2 million to the Renania Joint Stock Company in Dusseldorf (the German branch of 
Royal Dutch), and $5 million to other banks. Warburg reported this offer to Hitler, who 
requested the $5 million should be sent to the Banca Italiana in Rome and (although the 
report does not say so) presumably the other $2 million was paid to Dusseldorf. The book 
concludes with the following statement from Warburg: 


I carried out my assignment strictly down to the last detail. Hitler is dictator of 
the largest European country. The world has now observed him at work for 
several months. My opinion of him means nothing now. His actions will prove 
if he is bad, which I believe he is. For the sake of the German people I hope in 
my heart that I am wrong. The world continues to suffer under a system that 
has to bow to a Hitler to keep itself on its feet. Poor world, poor humanity. 


This is a synopsis of "Sidney Warburg's" suppressed book on the financial origins of 
national socialism in Germany. Some of the information in the book is now common 
knowledge — although only part was generally known in the early 1930s. It is 
extraordinary to note that the unknown author had access to information that only surfaced 
many years later — for example, the identity of the von Heydt bank as a Hitler financial 
conduit. Why was the book taken off the bookstands and suppressed? The stated reason for 
withdrawal was that "Sidney Warburg" did not exist, that the book was a forgery, and that 
the Warburg family claimed it contained anti-Semitic and libelous statements. 


The information in the book was resurrected after World War II and published in other 
books in an anti-Semitic context which does not exist in the original 1933 book. Two of 
these post-war books were Rene Sonderegger's Spanischer Sommer and Werner 
Zimmerman's Liebet Eure Feinde. 


Most importantly James P. Warburg of New York signed an affidavit in 1949, which was 
published as an appendix in von Papen's Memoirs. This Warburg affidavit emphatically 
denied the authenticity of the "Sidney Warburg" book and claimed it was a hoax, 
Unfortunately, James P. Warburg focuses on the 1947 Sonderegger anti-Semitic book 
Spanischer Sommer, not the original suppressed "Sidney Warburg” book published in 1933 
— where the only anti-Semitism stems from Hitler's alleged statements. 


In other words, the Warburg affidavit raised far more questions than it resolved. We should 
therefore look at Warburg's 1949 affidavit denying the authenticity of Financial Sources of 
National Socialism. 


James Paul Warburg's Affidavit 


In 1953 Nazi Franz von Papen published his Memoirs.® This was the same Franz von Papen 
who had been active in the United States on behalf of German espionage in World War I. In 
his Memoirs, Franz von Papen discusses the question of financing Hitler and places the 


blame squarely on industrialist Fritz Thyssen and banker Kurt von Sehroder. Papen denies 
that he (Papen) financed Hitler, and indeed no credible evidence has been forthcoming to 
link von Papen with Hitler's funds (although Zimmerman in Liebert Eure Feinde accuses 
Papen of donating 14 million marks). In this context von Papen mentions "Sidney 
Warburg's" The Financial Sources of National Socialism, together with the two more recent 
post-World War II books by Werner Zimmerman and Rene Sonderegger (alias Severin 


Reinhardt).? Papen adds that: 


James P. Warburg is able to refute the whole falsification in his affidavit .... 
For my own part I am most grateful to Mr. Warburg for disposing once and for 
all of this malicious libel. It is almost impossible to refute accusations of this 
sort by simple negation, and his authoritative denial has enabled me to give 
body to my own protestations.10 


There are two sections to Appendix II of Papen's book. First is a statement by James P. 
Warburg; second is the affidavit, dated July 15, 1949. 


The opening paragraph of the statement records that in 1933 the Dutch publishing house of 
Holkema and Warendorf published De Geldbronnen van Het Nationaal-Socialisme. Drie 
Gesprekken Met Hitler, and adds that, 


This book was allegedly written by "Sidney Warburg." A partner in the 
Amsterdam firm of Warburg & Co. informed James P. Warburg of the book 
and Holkema and Warendorf were informed that no such person as "Sidney 
Warburg" existed. They thereupon withdrew the book from circulation. 


James Warburg then makes two sequential and seemingly contradictory statements: 


... the book contained a mass of libelous material against various members of 
my family and against a number of prominent banking houses and individuals 
in New York: I have never to this day seen a copy of the book. Apparently only 
a handful of copies escaped the publisher's withdrawal. 


Now on the one hand Warburg claims he has never seen a copy of the "Sidney Warburg" 
book, and on the other hand says it is "libelous" and proceeds to construct a detailed 
affidavit on a sentence by sentence basis to refute the information supposedly in a book he 
claims not to have seen! It is very difficult to accept the validity of Warburg's claim he has 
"never to this day seen a copy of the book." Or if indeed he had not, then the affidavit is 
worthless. 


James Warburg adds that the "Sidney Warburg" book is "obvious anti-Semitism," and the 
thrust of Warburg's statement is that the "Sidney Warburg" story is pure anti-Semitic 
propaganda. In fact (and Warburg would have discovered this fact if he had read the book), 
the only anti-Semitic statements in the 1933 book are those attributed to Adolf Hitler, whose 
anti-Semitic feelings are hardly any great discovery. Apart from Hitler's ravings there is 
nothing in the original "Sidney Warburg" book remotely connected with anti-Semitism, 
unless we classify Rockefeller, Glean, Carter, McBean, etc. as Jewish. In fact, it is notable 
that not a single Jewish banker is named in the book — except for the mythical "Sidney 
Warburg" who is a courier, not one of the alleged money givers. Yet we know from an 
authentic source (Ambassador Dodd) that the Jewish banker Eberhard von Oppenheim did 


indeed give 200,000 marks to Hitler, and it is unlikely "Sidney Warburg" would have 
missed this observation if he was deliberately purveying false anti-Semitic propaganda. 


The first page of James Warburg's statement concerns the 1933 book. After the first page 
lames Warburg introduces Rene Sonderegger and another book written in 1947. Careful 
analysis of Warburg's statement and affidavit point up that his denials and assertions 
essentially refer to Sonderegger and not to Sidney Warburg. Now Sonderegger was anti- 
Semitic and probably was part of a neo-Nazi movement after World War I, but this claim 
of anti-Semitism cannot be laid to the 1933 book — and that is the crux of the question at 
issue. In brief, James Paul Warburg starts out by claiming to discuss a book he has never 
seen but knows to be libelous and anti-Semitic, then without warning shifts the accusation 
to another book which was certainly anti-Semitic but was published a decade later. Thus, 
the Warburg affidavit so thoroughly confuses the two books that the reader is lead to 


condemn the mythical" Sidney Warburg" along with Sonderegger.!? Let us look at some of 
J.P. Warburg's statements: 


James P. Warburg's Sworn 
Affidavit New York City, 
15, 1949 


1. Concerning the wholly false Note that the affidavit concerns 
and malicious allegations made by Rene Sonderegger, not the book 
Rene Sonderegger of Zurich, published by J.G. Shoup in 1933. 
Switzerland, et al., as set forth in 

the foregoing part of this 

statement, I, James Paul Warburg, 

of Greenwich, Connecticut, 

U.S.A., depose as follows: 


Jul Author's Comments on James 
Y p, Warburg Affidavit 


2. No such person as 

"Sidney Warburg" existed in New 
York City in 1933, nor 
elsewhere, as far as I know, 

then or at any other time. 


3. I never gave any manuscript, 
diary, notes, cables, or any other 
documents to any person for 
translation and publication in 
Holland, and, specifically, I never 
gave any such documents to the 
alleged J.G. Shoup of Antwerp. 
To the best of my knowledge and 
recollection I never at any time 
met any such person. 


4. The telephone conversation 
between Roger Baldwin and 
myself, reported by Sonderegger, 
never took place at all and is pure 
invention. 


We can assume that the name 
"Sidney Warburg" is a 
pseudonym, or used falsely. 


The affidavit confines itself to 
grant of materials "for translation 
and publication in Holland." 


Reported by Sonderegger, not 
"Sidney Warburg." 


5. I did not go to Germany at the 
request of the President of the 
Guaranty Trust Company in 1929, 
or at any other time. 


6. I did go to Germany on 
business for my own bank, The 
International Acceptance Bank 
Inc., of New York, in both 1929 
and 1930. On neither of these 
occasions did I have anything to 
do with investigating the possible 
prevention of a Communist 
revolution in Germany by the 
promotion of a Nazi counter- 
revolution. As a matter of 
recorded fact, my opinion at the 
time was that there was relatively 
little danger of a Communist 
revolution in Germany and a 
considerable danger of a Nazi 
seizure of power, I am ina 
position to prove that, on my 
return from Germany after the 
Reichstag elections of 1930, I 
warned my associates that Hitler 
would very likely come to power 
in Germany and that the result 


would be either a Nazi- dominated 


Europe or a second world war — 
perhaps both. This can be 
corroborated as well as the fact 
that, as a consequence of my 
warning, my bank proceeded to 
reduce its German commitments 
as rapidly as possible. 


7. [had no discussions anywhere, 
at any time, with Hitler, with any 
Nazi officials, or with anyone else 
about providing funds for the 
Nazi Party. Specifically, I had no 
dealing of this sort with 
Mendelssohn & Co., or the 
Rotterdamsche Bankvereiniging 


But Warburg did go to Germany 
in 1929 and 1930 for the 
International Acceptance Bank, 
Inc. 


Note that Warburg, by his own 
statement, told his banking 
associates that Hitler would come 
to power. This claim was made in 
1930 — and the Warburgs 
continued as directors with I.G. 
Farben and other pro-Nazi firms. 


There is no evidence to contradict 
this statement. So far as can be 
traced Warburgs were not 
connected with these banking 
firms except that the Italian 
correspondent of Warburg's Bank 
of Manhattan was "Banca 
Commerciale Italiana" — which is 


or the Banca Italiana. (The latter is close to "Banca Italiana." 


probably meant to read Banca 
d'Italia, with which I likewise had 
no such dealings.) 

8. In February 1933 (see pages 
191 and 192 of Spanischer 
Sommer) when I am alleged to 


There is no evidence to contradict 
these statements. "Sidney 


Warburg" provides no supporting 


have brought Hitler the last evidence for his claims. 
installment of American funds and 

to have been received by Goering 

and Goebbels as well as by Hitler 

himself, I can prove that I was not 

in Germany at all. I never set foot 

in Germany after the Nazis had 

come to power in January 1933. In 

January and February I was in 

New York and Washington, See Wall Street and FDR, (New 
working both with my bank and York: Arlington House Publishers, 
with President-elect Roosevelt on 1975), for details of FDR's 
the then-acute banking crisis. German associations. 
After Mr. Roosevelt's 

inauguration, on March 3, 1933, I 

was working with him 

continuously helping to prepare 

the agenda for the World 

Economic Conference, to which I 

was sent as Financial Adviser in 

early June. This is a matter of 

public record. 


9. The foregoing statements No. James P. Warburg states he 
should suffice to demonstrate that has never seen the original 
the whole "Sidney Warburg" myth "Sidney Warburg" book published 


and the subsequent spurious in Holland in 1933. Therefore his 
identification of myself with the affidavit only applies to the 
non-existent" Sidney" are Sonderegger book which is 
fabrications of malicious inaccurate. Sidney Warburg may 
falsehood without the slightest well be a myth, but the association 
foundation in truth. of Max Warburg and Paul 


Warburg with I.G. Farben and 
Hitler is not a myth. 


Does James Warburg intend to mislead? 


It is true that" Sidney Warburg" may well have been an invention, in the sense that" Sidney 
Warburg" never existed. We assume the name is a fake; but someone wrote the book. 
Zimmerman and Sonderegger may or may not have committed libel to the Warburg name, 
but unfortunately when we examine James P. Warburg's affidavit as published in von 
Papen's Memoirs we are left as much in the dark as ever. There are three important and 
unanswered questions: (1) why would James P. Warburg claim as a forgery a book he has 
not read; (2) why does Warburg's affidavit avoid the key question and divert discussion 
away from "Sidney Warburg" to the anti-Semitic Sonderegger book published in 1947; and 
(3) why would James P. Warburg be so insensitive to Jewish suffering in World War IT to 
publish his affidavit in the Memoirs of Franz von Papen, who was a prominent Nazi at the 
heart of the Hitler movement since the early days of 1933? 


Not only were the German Warburgs persecuted by Hitler in 1938, but millions of Jews lost 


their lives to Nazi barbarism. It seems elementary that anyone who has suffered and was 
sensitive to the past sufferings of German Jews would avoid Nazis, Naziism, and neo-Nazi 
books like the plague. Yet here we have Nazi von Papen acting as a genial literary host to 
self-described anti-Nazi James P. Warburg, who apparently welcomes the opportunity. 
Moreover, the Warburgs had ample opportunity to release such an affidavit with wide 
publicity without utilizing neo-Nazi channels. 


The reader will profit from pondering this situation. The only logical explanation is that 
some of the facts in the "Sidney Warburg" book are either true, come close to the truth, or 
are embarrassing to James P. Warburg. One cannot say that Warburg intends to mislead 
(although this might seem an obvious conclusion), because businessmen are notoriously 
illogical writers and reasoners, and there is certainly nothing to exempt Warburg from this 
categorization. 


Some Conclusions from the "Sidney Warburg" Story 


"Sidney Warburg" never existed; in this sense the original 1933 book is a work of fiction. 
However, many of the then-little-known facts recorded in the book are curate; and the 
James Warburg affidavit is not aimed at the original boo but rather at an anti-Semitic book 
circulated over a decade later. 


Paul Warburg was a director of American I.G. Farben and thus connected with the financing 
of Hitler. Max Warburg, a director of German I.G. Farben, signed — along with Hitler 
himself — the document which appointed Hjalmar Schacht to the Reichsbank. These 
verifiable connections between the Warburgs and Hitler suggest the "Sidney Warburg" 

story cannot be abandoned as a total forgery without close examination. 


Who wrote the 1933 book, and why? I.G. Shoup says the notes were written by a Warburg 
in England and given to him to translate. The War-burg motive was alleged to be genuine 
remorse at the amoral behavior of Warburgs and their Wall Street associates. Does this 
sound like a plausible motive? It has not gone unnoticed that those same Wall Streeters who 
plot war and revolution are often in their private lives genuinely decent citizens; it is not 
beyond the realm of reason that one of them had a change of heart or a heavy conscience. 
But this is not proven. 


If the book was a forgery, then by whom was it written? James War-burg admits he does not 
know the answer, and he writes: "The original purpose of the forgery remains somewhat 


obscure even today.13 


Would any government forge the document? Certainly not the British or U.S. governments, 
which are both indirectly implicated by the book. Certainly not the Nazi government in 
Germany, although James Warburg appears to suggest this unlikely possibility. Could it be 
France, or the Soviet Union, or perhaps Austria? France, possibly because France feared the 
rise of Nazi Germany. Austria is a similar possibility. The Soviet Union is a possibility 
because the Soviets also had much to fear from Hitler. So it is plausible that France, 
Austria, or the Soviet Union had some hand in the preparation of the book. 


Any private citizen who forged such a book without inside government materials would 
have to be remarkably well informed. Guaranty Trust is not a particularly well-known bank 


outside New York, yet there is an extraordinary degree of plausibility about the involvement 
of Guaranty Trust, because it was the Morgan vehicle used for financing and infiltrating the 


Bolshevik revolution.!4 Whoever named Guaranty Trust as the vehicle for funding Hitler 
either knew a great deal more than the man in the street, or had authentic government 
information. What would be the motive behind such a book? 


The only motive that seems acceptable is that the unknown author had knowledge a war 
was in preparation and hoped for a public reaction against the Wall Street fanatics and their 
industrialist friends in Germany — before it was too late. Clearly, whoever wrote the book, 
his motive almost certainly was to warn against Hitlerian aggression and to point to its Wall 
Street source, because the technical assistance of American companies controlled by Wall 
Street was still needed to build Hitler's war machine. The Standard Oil hydrogenation 
patents and financing for the oil from coal plants, the bomb sights, and the other necessary 
technology had not been fully transferred when the "Sidney Warburg" book was written. 
Consequently, this could have been a book designed to break the back of Hitler's supporters 
abroad, to inhibit the planned transfer of U.S. war-making potential, and to eliminate 
financial and diplomatic support of the Nazi state. If this was the goal, it is regrettable that 
the book failed to achieve any of these purposes. 


Footnotes: 

William E. Dodd, Ambassador Dodd's Diary, op. cit., p. 31. 

Mbid., p. 74. 

3Franz von Papen, Memoirs, (New York: E.P. Dutton & Co., 1953), p. 229. 


“The English text for this chapter is translated from an authenticated surviving 
German translation of a copy of the Dutch edition of De Geldbronnen van Het 
Nationaal-Socialisme (Drie Gesprekken Met Hitler), or The Financial Sources 
of National Socialism (Three conversations with Hitler. The original Dutch 
author is given as "Door Sidney Warburg, vertaald door I.G. Shoup" (By 
Sidney Warburg, as told by I.G. Shoup). 


The copy used here was translated from the Dutch by Dr. Walter Nelz, 
Wilhelm Peter, and Rene Sonderegger in Zurich, February 11, 1947, and the 
German translation bears an affidavit to the effect that: "The undersigned three 
witnesses do verify that the accompanying document is none other than a true 
and literal translation from Dutch into German of the book by Sidney Warburg, 
a copy of which was constantly at their disposal during the complete process of 
translation. They testify that they held this original in their hands, and that to 
the best of their ability they read it sentence by sentence, translating it into 
German, comparing then the content of the accompanying translation to the 
original conscientiously until complete agreement was reached." 


Note that "von Heydt" was the original name for the Dutch Bank voor Handel 
en Seheepvaart N.V., a subsidiary of the Thyssen interests and now known to 


have been used as a funnel for Nazi funds. See Elimination of German 
Resources. 


Examination of the Index for the New York Times confirms the accuracy of the 
latter part of this statement. See for example the sudden rush of interest by the 
New York Times, September 15, 1930 and the feature article on "Hitler, Driving 
Force in Germany's Fascism" in the September 21, 1930 issue of the New York 
Times. In 1929 the New York Times listed only one brief item on Adolf Hitler. 
In 1931 it ran a score of substantial entries, in-eluding no fewer than three 
"Portraits." 


THoover said he lost the support of Wall Street in 1931 because he would not 
go along with its plan for a New Deal: see Antony C. Sutton, Wall Street and 
FDR, op. cit. 


SFranz von Papen, Memoirs, (New York: E.P. Dutton & Co., Inc., 1958). 
Translated by Brian Connell. 


Werner Zimmerman, Liebet Eure Feinde, (Frankhauser Verlag: Thielle- 
Neuchatel, 1948), which contains a chapter, "Hitlers geheime 
Geldgeber" (Hitler's secret financial supporters) and Rene Sonderegger, 
Spanischer Sommer, (Afroltern, Switzerland: Achren Verlag, 1948). 


10Franz von Papen, Memoirs, op. cit., p. 23. 
"William E. Dodd, Ambassador Dodd,s Diary, op. cit. pp, 593-602. 


The reader should examine the complete Warburg statement and affidavit; 
see Franz von Papen, Memoirs, op. cit. pp. 593-602, 


B3Eranz von Papen, Memoirs, op. cit., p. 594. 


l4See Antony C. Sutton, Wall Street and the Bolshevik Revolution, op. cit, 


BACK 


CHAPTER ELEVEN 


Wall Street-Nazi Collaboration in World War Il 


Behind the battle fronts in World War II, through intermediaries in Switzerland and North 
Africa, the New York financial elite collaborated with the Nazi regime, Captured files after 
the war yielded a mass of evidence demonstrating that for some elements of Big Business, 
the period 1941-5 was "business as usual." For instance, correspondence between U.S. firms 
and their French subsidiaries reveals the aid given to the Axis military machine — while the 
United States was at war with Germany and Italy. Letters between Ford of France and Ford 
of the U.S. between 1940 and July 1942 were analyzed by the Foreign Funds Control 


section of the Treasury Department. Their initial report concluded that until mid-1942: 


(1) the business of the Ford subsidiaries in France substantially increased; (2) 
their production was solely for the benefit of the Germans and the countries 
under its occupation; (3) the Germans have "shown clearly their wish to 
protect the Ford interests" because of the attitude of strict neutrality 
maintained by Henry Ford and the late Edsel Ford; and (4) the increased 
activity of the French Ford subsidiaries on behalf of the Germans received the 
commendation of the Ford family in America.1 


Similarly, the Rockefeller Chase Bank was accused of collaborating with the Nazis in 


World War II France, while Nelson Rockefeller had a soft job in Washington D.C.: 


Substantially the same pattern of behavior was pursued by the Paris office of 
the Chase Bank during German occupation, An examination of the 
correspondence between Chase, New York, and Chase, France, from the date 
of the fall of France to May, 1942 discloses that: (1) the manager of the Paris 
office appeased and collaborated with the Germans to place the Chase banks 
in a "privileged position;" (2) the Germans held the Chase Bank in a very 
special esteem — owing to the international activities of our (Chase) head 
office and the pleasant relations which the Paris branch has been maintaining 
with many of their (German) banks and their (German) local organizations and 
higher officers; (3)the Paris manager was "very vigorous in enforcing 
restrictions against Jewish property, even going so far as to refuse to release 
funds belonging to Jews in anticipation that a decree with retroactive 
provisions prohibiting such release might be published in the near future by the 
occupying authorities;" (4)the New York office despite the above information 
took no direct steps to remove the undesirable manager from the Paris office 
since it "might react against our (Chase) interests as we are dealing, not with a 
theory but with a situation." 


An official report to then-Secretary of the Treasury Morgenthau concluded that: 


These two situations [i.e., Ford and Chase Bank] convince us that it is 
imperative to investigate immediately on the spot the activities of subsidiaries 
of at least some of the larger American firms which were operating in France 


during German occupation Bee 


Treasury officials urged that an investigation be started with the French subsidiaries of 
several American banks — that is, Chase, Morgan, National City, Guaranty, Bankers Trust, 
and American Express. Although Chase and Morgan were the only two banks to maintain 
French offices throughout the Nazi occupation, in September 1944 all the major New York 
banks were pressing the U.S. Government for permission to re-open pre-war branches. 
Subsequent Treasury investigation produced documentary evidence of collaboration 
between both Chase Bank and J.P. Morgan with the Nazis in World War II. The 
recommendation for a full investigation is cited in full as follows: 


TREASURY DEPARTMENT 
INTER-OFFICE COMMUNICATION 


Date: December 20, 1944 

To: Secretary Morgenthau From: Mr. Saxon 

Examination of the records of the Chase Bank, Paris, and of Morgan and 
Company, France, have progressed only far enough to permit tentative 
conclusions and the revelation of a few interesting facts: 


CHASE BANK, PARIS 


a. Niederman, of Swiss nationality, manager of Chase, Paris, was 
unquestionably a collaborator; 


b. The Chase Head Office in New York was informed of Nieder-man's 
collaborationist policy but took no steps to remove him. Indeed there is ample 
evidence to show that the Head Office in New York viewed Niederman's good 
relations with the Germans as an excellent means of preserving, unimpaired, 
the position of the Chase Bank in France; 


c. The German authorities were anxious to keep the Chase open and indeed 
took exceptional measures to provide sources of revenue; 


d. The German authorities desired "to be friends" with the important American 
banks because they expected that these banks would be useful after the war as 
an instrument of German policy in the United States; 


e. The Chase, Paris showed itself most anxious to please the German authorities 
in every possible way. For example, the Chase zealously maintained the 
account of the German Embassy in Paris, "as every little thing helps" (to 
maintain the excellent relations between Chase and the German authorities); 


f. The whole objective of the Chase policy and operation was to maintain the 
position of the bank at any cost. 


MORGAN AND COMPANY, FRANCE 


a. Morgan and Company regarded itself as a French bank, and therefore 


obligated to observe French banking laws and regulations, whether Nazi- 
inspired or not; and did actually do so; 


b. Morgan and Company was most anxious to preserve the continuity of its 
house in France, and, in order to achieve this security, worked out a modus 
vivendi with the German authorities; 


c. Morgan and Company had tremendous prestige with the German authorities, 
and the Germans boasted of the splendid cooperation of Morgan and Company; 


d. Morgan continued its prewar relations with the great French industrial and 
commercial concerns which were working for Germany, including the Renault 
Works, since confiscated by the French Government, Puegeqt [sic], Citroen, 
and many others. 


e. The power of Morgan and Company in France bears no relation to the small 
financial resources of the firm, and the enquiry now in progress will be of real 
value in allowing us for the first time to study the Morgan pattern in Europe 
and the manner in which Morgan has used its great power; 


f. Morgan and Company constantly sought its ends by playing one government 
against another in the coldest and most unscrupulous manner. 


Mr. Jefferson Caffery, U.S. Ambassador to France, has been kept informed of 
the progress of this investigation and at all times gave me full support and 
encouragement, in principle and in fact. Indeed, it was Mr. Caffery himself who 
asked me how the Ford and General Motors subsidiaries in France had acted 
during the occupation, and expressed the desire that we should look into these 
companies after the bank investigation was completed. 


RECOMMENDATION 


I recommend that this investigation, which, for unavoidable reasons, has 
progressed slowly up to this time, should now be pressed urgently and that 


additional needed personnel be sent to Paris as soon as possible.4 


The full investigation was never undertaken, and no investigation has been made of this 
presumably treasonable activity down to the present day. 


American I.G. in World War II 


Collaboration between American businessmen and Nazis in Axis Europe was paralleled by 
protection of Nazi interests in the United States. In 1939 American I.G. was renamed 
General Aniline & Film, with General Dyestuffs acting as its exclusive sales agent in the 
U.S. These names effectively disguised the fact that American I.G. (or General Aniline & 
Film) was an important producer of major war materials, including atabrine, magnesium, 
and synthetic rubber. Restrictive agreements with its German parent I.G. Farben reduced 
American supplies of these military products during World War II. 


An American citizen, Halbach, became president of General Dyestuffs in 1930 and acquired 
majority control in 1939 from Dietrich A. Schmitz, a director of American I.G. and brother 
of Hermann Schmitz, director of I.G. Farben in Germany and chairman of the board of 
American I.G. until the outbreak of war in 1939. After Pearl Harbor, the U.S. Treasury 
blocked Halbach's bank accounts. In June 1942 the Alien Property Custodian seized 
Halbach's stock in General Dyestuffs and took over the firm as an enemy corporation under 
the Trading with the Enemy Act. Subsequently, the Alien Property Custodian appointed a 
new board of directors to act as trustee for the duration of the war. These actions were 
reasonable and usual practice, but when we probe under the surface another and quite 
abnormal story emerges. 


Between 1942 and 1945 Halbach was nominally a consultant to General Dyestuffs. In fact 
Halbach ran the company, at $82,000 per year, Louis Johnson, former Assistant Secretary 
of War, was appointed president of General Dyestuffs by the 'U.S. Government, for which 
he received $75,000 a year. Louis Johnson attempted to bring pressure to bear on the U.S. 
Treasury to unblock Halbach's blocked funds and allow Halbach to develop policies 
contrary to the interests of the U.S., then at war with Germany. The argument used to get 
Halbach's bank accounts unblocked was that Halbach was running the company and that the 
Government-appointed board of directors "would have been lost without Mr. Halbach's 
knowledge." 


During the war Halbach filed suit against the Alien Property Custodian, through the 
Establishment law firm of Sullivan and Cromwell, to oust the U.S. Government from its 
control of I.G. Farben companies. These suits were unsuccessful, but Halbach was 
successful in keeping the Farben cartel agreements intact throughout World War II; the 
Alien Property Custodian never did go into court during World War II on the pending anti- 
trust suits. Why not? Leo T. Crowley, head of the Alien Property Custodian's office, had 
John Foster Dulles as his advisor, and John Foster Dulles was a partner in the above- 
mentioned Sullivan and Cromwell firm, which was acting on behalf of Halbach in its suit 
against the Alien Property Custodian. 


There were other conflict of interest situations we should note. Leo T. Crowley, the Alien 
Property Custodian, appointed Victor Emanuel to the boards of both General Aniline & 
Film and General Dyestuffs. Before the war Victor Emanuel was director of the J. Schroder 
Banking Corporation. Schroder, as we have already seen, was a prominent financier of 
Hitler and the Nazi party — and at that very time was a member of Himmler's Circle of 
Friends, making substantial contributions to S.S. organizations in Germany. 


In turn Victor Emanuel appointed Leo Crowley head of Standard Gas & Electric (controlled 
by Emanuel) at $75,000 per annum. This sum was in addition to Crowley's salary from the 
Alien Property Custodian and $10,000 a year as head of the U.S. Government Federal 
Deposit Insurance Corporation. By 1945 James E. Markham had replaced Crowley as 
A.P.C. and was also appointed by Emanuel as a director of Standard Gas at $4,850 per year, 
in addition to the $10,000 he drew as Alien Property Custodian. 


The wartime influence of General Dyestuffs and this cozy government-business coterie on 
behalf of I.G. Farben is exemplified in the ease of American Cyanamid. Before the war I.G. 
Farben controlled the drug, chemical, and dyestuffs industries in Mexico. During World 
War II it was proposed to Washington that American Cyanamid take over this Mexican 
industry and develop an "independent" chemical industry with the old I.G. Farben firms 
seized by the Mexican Alien Property Custodian. 


As hired hands of Schroder banker Victor Emanuel, Crowley and Markham, who were also 
employees of the U.S. Government, attempted to deal with the question of these I.G. Farben 
interests in the United States and Mexico. On April 13, 1943 James Markham sent a letter 
to Secretary of State Cordell Hull objecting to the proposed Cyanamid deal on the grounds 
it was contrary to the Atlantic Charter and would interfere with the aim of establishing 
independent firms in Latin America. The Markham position was supported by Henry A. 
Wallace and Attorney General Francis Biddle. 


The forces aligned against the Cyanamid deal were Sterling Drug, Inc. and Winthrop. Both 
Sterling and Winthrop stood to lose their drug market in Mexico if the Cyanamid deal went 
through. Also hostile to the Cyanamid deal of course was I.G. Farben's General Aniline and 
General Dyestuffs, dominated by Victor Emanuel, banker Sehroder's former associate. 


On the other hand, the State Department and the Office of the Coordinator of Inter- 
American affairs — which happened to be Nelson Rockefeller's wartime baby — supported 
the proposed Cyanamid deal. The Rockefellers are, of course, also interested in the drug and 
chemical industries in Latin America. In brief, an American monopoly under influence of 
Rockefeller would have replaced a Nazi I.G. Farben monopoly. 


I.G. Farben won this round in Washington, but more ominous questions are raised when we 
look at the bombing of Germany in wartime by the U.S.A.A.F. It has long been rumored, 
but never proven, that Farben received favored treatment — i.e., that it was not bombed. 
James Stewart Martin comments as follows on favored treatment received by I.G. Farben in 
the bombing of Germany: 


Shortly after the armies reached the Rhine at Cologne, we were driving along 
the west bank within sight of the undamaged I.G. Farben plant at Leverkusen 
across the river. Without knowing anything about me or my business he (the 
Jeep driver) began to give me a lecture about I.G. Farben and to point at the 
con. trast between the bombed-out city of Cologne and the trio of untouched 
plants on the fringe: the Ford works and the United Rayon works on the west 
bank, and the Farben works on the east bank..5. 


While this accusation is very much of an open question, requiring a great deal of skilled 
research into the U.S.A.A.F. bombing records, other aspects of favoritism for the Nazis are 
well recorded. 


At the end of World War II, Wall Street moved into Germany through the Control Council 
to protect their old cartel friends and limit the extent to which the denazification fervor 
would damage old business relationships. General Lucius Clay, the deputy military 
governor for Germany, appointed businessmen who opposed denazification to positions of 
control over the denazification proceeds. William H. Draper of Dill. on, Read, the firm 
which financed the German cartels back in the 1920s, became General Clay's deputy. 


Banker William Draper, as Brigadier General William Draper, put his control team together 
from businessmen who had represented American business in pre-war Germany. The 
General Motors representation in-eluded Louis Douglas, a former director of G.M., and 
Edward S. Zdunke, a pre-war head of General Motors in Antwerp, appointed to supervise 
the Engineering Section of the Control Council. Peter Hoglund, an expert on German auto 
industry, was given leave from General Motors. The personnel selection for the Council 


was undertaken by Colonel Graeme K. Howard — former G,M. representative in Germany 
and author of a book which "praises totalitarian practices [and] justifies German 


aggression .... WS 


Treasury Secretary Morgenthau was deeply disturbed at the implications of this Wall Street 
monopoly of the fate of Nazi Germany and prepared a memorandum to present to President 
Roosevelt. The complete Morgenthau memorandum, dated May 29, 1945, reads as follows: 


MEMORANDUM 
May 29, 1945 


Lieutenant-General Lucius D. Clay, as Deputy to General Eisenhower, actively 
runs the American element of the Control Council for Germany. General Clay's 
three principal advisers on the Control Council staff are. 


1. Ambassador Robert D. Murphy, who is in charge of the Political Division. 


2. Louis Douglas, whom General Clay describes as my personal adviser on 
economical, financial and governmental matters." Douglas resigned as Director 
of the Budget in 1934; and for the following eight years he attacked the 
government's fiscal policies. Since 1940, Douglas has been president of the 
Mutual Life Insurance Company, and since December 1944, he has been a 
director of the General Motors Corporation. 


3. Brigadier-General William Draper, who is the director of the Economics 
Division of the Control Council. General Draper is a partner of the banking 
firm of Dillon, Read and Company, 


Sunday's New York Times contained the announcement of key personnel who 
have been appointed by General Clay and General Draper to the Economic 
Division of the Control Council. The appointments include the following: 


1. R.J. Wysor is to be in charge of the metallurgical matters. Wysor was 
president of the Republic Steel Corporation from 1937 until a recent date, and 
prior thereto, he was associated with the Bethlehem Steel, Jones and Laughlin 
Steel Corporation and the Republic Steel Corporation. 


2. Edward X. Zdunke is to supervise the engineering section. Prior to the war, 
Mr. Zdunke was head of General Motors at Antwerp. 


3. Philip Gaethke is to be in charge of mining operations. Gaethke was 
formerly connected with Anaconda Copper and was manager of its smelters 
and mines in Upper Silesia before the war. 


4. Philip P. Clover is to be in charge of handling oil matters. He was formerly a 
representative of the Socony Vacuum Oil Company in Germany. 


5. Peter Hoglund is to deal with industrial production problems. Hoglund is on 
leave from General Motors and is said to be an expert on German production. 


6. Calvin B. Hoover is to be in charge of the Intelligence Group on the Control 
Council and is also to be a special advisor to General Draper. In a letter to the 
Editor of the New York Times on October 9, 1944, Hoover wrote as follows: 


The publication of Secretary Morgenthau's plan for dealing with 
Germany has disturbed me deeply ... such a Carthaginian peace 
would leave a legacy of hate to poison international relations for 
generations to come... the void in the economy of Europe which 
would exist through the destruction of all German industry is 
something which is difficult to contemplate. 


7. Laird Bell is to be Chief Counsel of the Economic Division. He is a well- 
known Chicago lawyer and in May 1944, was elected the president of the 
Chicago Daily News, after the death of Frank Knox. 


One of the men who helped General Draper in the selection of personnel for the 
Economics Division was Colonel Graeme Howard, a vice-president of General 
Motors, who was in charge of their overseas business and who was a leading 
representative of General Motors in Germany prior to the war. Howard is the 
author of a book in which he praises totalitarian practices, justifies German 
aggression and the Munich policy of appeasement, and blames Roosevelt for 
precipitating the war. 


So when we examine the Control Council for Germany under General Lucius D. Clay we 
find that the head of the finance division was Louis Douglas, director of the Morgan- 
controlled General Motors and president of Mutual Life Insurance. (Opel, the General 
Motors German subsidiary, had been Hitler's biggest tank producer.) The head of the 
Control Council's Economics Division was William Draper, a partner in the Dillon, Read 
firm that had so much to do with building Nazi Germany in the first place. All three men 
were, not surprisingly in the light of more recent findings, members of the Council on 
Foreign Relations. 


Were American Industrialists and Financiers Guilty of War Crimes? 


The Nuremburg War Crimes Trials proposed to select those responsible for World War II 
preparations and atrocities and place them on trial. Whether. such a procedure is morally 
justifiable is a debatable matter; there is some justification for holding that Nuremburg was 


a political farce far removed from legal principle.” However, if we assume that there is such 
legal and moral justification, then surely any such trial should apply to all, irrespective of 
nationality. What for example should exempt Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill, 
but not exempt Adolf Hitler and Goering? If the offense is preparation for war, and not 
blind vengeance, then justice should be impartial. 


The directives prepared by the U.S. Control Council in Germany for the arrest and detention 
of war criminals refers to "Nazis" and "Nazi sympathizers," not "Germans." The relevant 
extracts are as follows: 


a. You will search out, arrest, and hold, pending receipt by you of further 
instructions as to their disposition, Adolph Hitler, his chief Nazi associates, 


other war criminals and all persons who have participated in planning or 
carrying out Nazi enterprises involving or resulting in atrocities or war crimes. 


Then follows a list of the categories of persons to be arrested, including: 


(8) Nazis and Nazi sympathizers holding important and key positions in (a) 
National and Gau Civic and economic organizations; (b ) corporations and 
other organizations in which the government has a major financial interest; (c) 
industry, commerce, agriculture, and finance; (d) education; (e) the judicial; 
and (f) the press, publishing houses and other agencies disseminating news and 
propaganda. 


Top American industrialists and financiers named in this book are covered by the categories 
listed above. Henry Ford and Edsel Ford respectively contributed money to Hitler and 
profited from German wartime production. Standard Oil of New Jersey, General Electric, 
General Motors, and I.T.T. certainly made financial or technical contributions which 
comprise prima facie evidence of "participating in planning or carrying out Nazi 
enterprises." 


There is, in brief, evidence which suggests: 
(a) cooperation with the Wehrmacht (Ford Motor Company, Chase Bank, Morgan Bank); 


(b) aid to the Nazi Four Year Plan and economic mobilization for war (Standard Oil of New 
Jersey); 


(c) creating and equipping the Nazi war machine (1.T.T.); 

(d) stockpiling critical materials for the Nazis (Ethyl Corporation); 
(e) weakening the Nazis' potential enemies (American I.G. Farben); 
and, 


(f) carrying on of propaganda, intelligence, and espionage (American I.G. Farben and 
Rockefeller public-relations man Ivy Lee). 


At the very least there is sufficient evidence to demand a thorough and impartial 
investigation. However, as we have noted previously, these same firms and financiers were 
prominent in the 1933 election of Roosevelt and consequently had sufficient political pull to 
squelch threats of investigation. Extracts from the Morgenthau diary demonstrate that Wall 
Street political power was sufficient even to control the appointment of officers responsible 
for the denazification and eventual government of post-war Germany. 


Did these American firms know of their assistance to Hitler's military machine? According 
to the firms themselves, emphatically not. They claim innocence of any intent to aid Hitler's 
Germany. Witness a telegram sent by the chairman of the board of Standard Oil of New 
Jersey to Secretary of War Patterson after World War II, when preliminary investigation of 
Wall Street assistance was under way: 


During the entire period of our business contacts, we had no inkling of 
Farben's conniving part in Hitler's brutal politics, We offer any help we can 
give to see that complete truth is brought to light, and that rigid justice is done. 


F.W. Abrams, 
Chairman of 
Board 


Unfortunately, the evidence presented is contrary to Abrams’ telegraphed assertions. 
Standard Oil of New Jersey not only aided Hitler's war machine, but had knowledge of this 
assistance. Emil Helfferich, the board chairman of a Standard of New Jersey subsidiary, was 
a member of the Keppler Circle before Hitler came to power; he continued to give financial 
contributions to Himmler's Circle as late as 1944. 


Accordingly, it is not at all difficult to visualize why Nazi industrialists were puzzled by 
"investigation" and assumed at the end of the war that their Wall Street friends would bail 
them out and protect them from the wrath of those who had suffered. These attitudes were 
presented to the Kilgore Committee in 1946: 


You might also be interested in knowing, Mr. Chairman, that the top I.G. 
Farben people and others, when we questioned them about these activities, 
were inclined at times to be very in. dignant. Their general attitude and 
expectation was that the war was over and we ought now to be assisting them 
in helping to get I.G. Farben and German industry back on its feet. Some of 
them have outwardly said that this questioning and investigation was, in their 
estimation, only a phenomenon of short duration, because as soon as things got 
a little settled they would expect their friends in the United States and in 
England to be coming over. Their friends, so they said, would put a stop to 
activities such as these investigations and would see that they got the treatment 
which they regarded as proper and that assistance would be given to them to 
help reestablish their industry.8 


Footnotes: 

"Morgenthau Diary (Germany). 

“Ibid. 

3Ibid. 

*]bid., pp. 800-2. 

James Stewart Martin, All Honorable Men, op. cit., p. 75. 


óMorgenthau Diary (Germany), p. 1543. Colonel Graeme K. 
Howard's book was entitled, America and a New World Order, 
(New York: Scribners, 1940). 


’The reader should examine the essay, "The Return to War 
Crimes," in James J. Martin, Revisionist Viewpoints, (Colorado: 
Ralph Mules, 1971). 


8Elimination of German Resources, p. 652. 


BACK 


CHAPTER TWELVE 


Conclusions 


We have demonstrated with documentary evidence a number of critical associations 
between Wall Street international bankers and the rise of Hitler and Naziism in Germany. 


First: that Wall Street financed the German cartels in the mid-1920s which in turn 
proceeded to bring Hitler to power. 


Second: that the financing for Hitler and his S.S. street thugs came in part from affiliates or 
subsidiaries of U.S. firms, including Henry Ford in 1922, payments by I.G. Farben and 
General Electric in 1933, followed by the Standard Oil of New Jersey and I.T.T. subsidiary 
payments to Heinrich Himmler up to 1944. 


Third: that U.S. multi-nationals under the control of Wall Street profited handsomely from 
Hitler's military construction program in the 1930s and at least until 1942. 


Fourth: that these same international bankers used political influence in the U.S. to cover up 
their wartime collaboration and to do this infiltrated the U.S. Control Commission for 
Germany. 


Our evidence for these four major assertions can be summarized as follows: 


In Chapter One we presented evidence that the Dawes and Young Plans for German 
reparations were formulated by Wall Streeters, temporarily wearing the hats of statesmen, 
and these loans generated a rain of profits for these international bankers. Owen Young of 
General Electric, Hjalmar Schacht, A. Voegler, and others intimately connected with 
Hitler's accession to power had earlier been the negotiators for the U.S. and German sides, 
respectively. Three Wall Street houses — Dillon, Read; Harris, Forbes; and, National City 
Company — handled three-quarters of the reparations loans used to create the German 
cartel system, including the dominant I.G. Farben and Vereinigte Stahlwerke, which 
together produced 95 percent of the explosives for the Nazi side in World War II. 


The central role of I.G. Farben in Hitler's coup d' état was reviewed in Chapter Two. The 
directors of American I.G. (Farben) were identified as prominent American businessmen: 
Walter Teagle, a dose Roosevelt associate and backer and an NRA administrator; banker 
Paul Warburg (his brother Max Warburg was on the board of I.G. Farben in Germany); and 
Edsel Ford. Farben contributed 400,000 RM directly to Schacht and Hess for use in the 
crucial 1933 elections and Farben was subsequently in the forefront of military development 
in Nazi Germany. 


A donation of 60,000 RM was made to Hitler by German General Electric (A.E.G.), which 
had four directors and a 25-30 percent interest held by the U.S. General Electric parent 
company. This role was described in Chapter Three, and we found that Gerard Swope, an 
originator of Roosevelt's New Deal (its National Recovery Administration segment), 
together with Owen Young of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and Clark Minor of 


International General Electric, were the dominant Wall Streeters in A.E.G. and the most 
significant single influence. 


We also found no evidence to indict the German electrical firm Siemens, which was not 
under Wall Street control. In contrast, there is documentary evidence that both A.E.G. and 
Osram, the other units of the German electrical industry — both of which had U.S. 
participation and control — did finance Hitler. In fact, almost all directors of German 
General Electric were Hitler backers, either directly through A.E.G. or indirectly through 
other German firms, G.E. rounded out its Hitler support by technical cooperation with 
Krupp, aimed at restricting U.S. development of tungsten carbide, which worked to the 
detriment of the U.S. in World War II. We concluded that A.E.G. plants in Germany 
managed, by a yet unknown maneuver, to avoid bombing by the Allies. 


An examination of the role of Standard Oil of New Jersey (which was and is controlled by 
the Rockefeller interests) was undertaken in Chapter Four. Standard Oil apparently did not 
finance Hitler's accession to power in 1933 (that part of the "myth of Sidney Warburg" is 
not proven). On the other hand, payments were made up to 1944 by Standard Oil of New 
Jersey, to develop synthetic gasoline for war purposes on behalf of the Nazis and, through 
its wholly owned subsidiary, to Heinrich Himmler's S.S. Circle of Friends for political 
purposes. Standard Oil's role was technical aid to Nazi development of synthetic rubber and 
gasoline through a U.S. research company under the management control of Standard Oil. 
The Ethyl Gasoline Company, jointly owned by Standard Oil of New Jersey and General 
Motors, was instrumental in supplying vital ethyl lead to Nazi Germany — over the written 
protests of the U.S. War Department — with the clear knowledge that the ethyl lead was for 
Nazi military purposes. 


In Chapter Five we demonstrated that International Telephone and Telegraph Company, one 
of the more notorious multi-nationals, worked both sides of World War II through Baron 
Kurt von Schroder, of the Schroder banking group. I.T.T. also held a 28-percent interest in 
Focke-Wolfe aircraft, which manufactured excellent German fighter planes. We also found 
that Texaco (Texas Oil Company) was involved in Nazi endeavors through German 
attorney Westrick, but dropped its chairman of the board Rieber when these endeavors were 
publicized. 


Henry Ford was an early (1922) Hitler backer and Edsel Ford continued the family tradition 
in 1942 by encouraging French Ford to profit from arming the German Wehrmacht, 
Subsequently, these Ford-produced vehicles were used against American soldiers as they 
landed in France in 1944. For his early recognition of, and timely assistance to, the Nazis, 
Henry Ford received a Nazi medal in 1938. The records of French Ford suggest Ford Motor 
received kid glove treatment from the Nazis after 1940. 


The provable threads of Hitler financing are drawn together in Chapter Seven and answer 
with precise names and figures the question, who financed Adolf Hitler? This chapter 
indicts Wall Street and, incidentally, no one else of consequence in the United States except 
the Ford family. The Ford family is not normally associated with Wall Street but is certainly 
a part of the "power elite." 


In earlier chapters we cited several Roosevelt associates, including Teagle of Standard Oil, 
the Warburg family, and Gerard Swope. In Chapter Eight the role of Putzi Hanfstaengl, 
another Roosevelt friend and a participant in the Reichstag fire, is traced. The composition 
of the Nazi inner circle during World War II, and the financial contributions of Standard Oil 


of New Jersey and I.T.T. subsidiaries, are traced in Chapter Nine. Documentary proof of 
these monetary contributions is presented. Kurt yon Schrader is identified as the key 
intermediary in this S.S. "slush fund." 


Finally, in Chapter Ten we reviewed a book suppressed in 1934 and the "myth of 'Sidney 
Warburg.'" The suppressed book accused the Rockefellers, the Warburgs, and the major oil 
companies of financing Hitler. While the name "Sidney Warburg" was no doubt an 
invention, the extraordinary fact remains that the argument in the suppressed "Sidney 
Warburg" book is remarkably close to the evidence presented now. It also remains a puzzle 
why James Paul Warburg, fifteen years later, would want to attempt, in a rather 
transparently slipshod manner, to refute the contents of the "Warburg" book, a book he 
claims not to have seen. It is perhaps even more of a puzzle why Warburg would choose 
Nazi von Papen's Memoirs as the vehicle to present his refutation. 


Finally, in Chapter Eleven we examined the roles of the Morgan and Chase Banks in World 
War II, specifically their collaboration with the Nazis in France while a major war was 
raging. 


In other words, as in our two previous examinations of the links between New York 
international bankers and major historical events, we find a provable pattern of subsidy and 
political manipulation. 


The Pervasive Influence of International Bankers 


Looking at the broad array of facts presented in the three volumes of the Wall Street series, 
we find persistent recurrence of the same names: Owen Young, Gerard Swope, Hjalmar 
Schacht, Bernard Baruch, efc.; the same international banks: J.P. Morgan, Guaranty Trust, 
Chase Bank; and the same location in New York: usually 120 Broadway. 


This group of international bankers backed the Bolshevik Revolution and subsequently 
profited from the establishment of a Soviet Russia. This group backed Roosevelt and 
profited from New Deal socialism. This group also backed Hitler and certainly profited 
from German armament in the 1930s. When Big Business should have been running its 
business operations at Ford Motor, Standard of New Jersey, and so on, we find it actively 
and deeply involved in political upheavals, war, and revolutions in three major countries. 


The version of history presented here is that the financial elite knowingly and with 
premeditation assisted the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 in concert with German bankers. 
After profiting handsomely from the German hyper-inflationary distress of 1923, and 
planning to place the German reparations burden onto the backs of American investors, 
Wall Street found it had brought about the 1929 financial crisis. 


Two men were then backed as leaders for major Western countries: Franklin D. Roosevelt 
in the United States and Adolf Hitler in Germany. The Roosevelt New Deal and Hitler's 
Four Year Plan had great similarities. The Roosevelt and Hitler plans were plans for fascist 
takeovers of their respective countries. While Roosevelt's NRA failed, due to then-operating 
constitutional constraints, Hitler's Plan succeeded. 


Why did the Wall Street elite, the international bankers, want Roosevelt and Hitler in 


power? This is an aspect we have not explored. According to the "myth of 'Sidney 
Warburg," Wall Street wanted a policy of revenge; that is, it wanted war in Europe between 
France and Germany. We know even from Establishment history that both Hitler and 
Roosevelt acted out policies leading to war. 


The link-ups between persons and events in this three-book series would require another 
book. But a single example will perhaps indicate the remarkable concentration of power 
within a relatively few organizations, and the use of this power. 


On May Ist, 1918, when the Bolsheviks controlled only a small fraction of Russia (and 
were to come near to losing even that fraction in the summer of 1918), the American 
League to Aid and Cooperate with Russia was organized in Washington, D.C. to support the 
Bolsheviks. This was not a "Hands off Russia" type of committee formed by the 
Communist Party U.S.A. or its allies. It was a committee created by Wall Street with 
George P. Whalen of Vacuum Oil Company as Treasurer and Coffin and Oudin of General 
Electric, along with Thompson of the Federal Reserve System, Willard of the Baltimore & 
Ohio Railroad, and assorted socialists. 


When we look at the rise of Hitler and Naziism we find Vacuum Oil and General Electric 
well represented. Ambassador Dodd in Germany was struck by the monetary and technical 
contribution by the Rockefeller-controlled Vacuum Oil Company in building up military 
gasoline facilities for the Nazis. The Ambassador tried to warn Roosevelt. Dodd believed, in 
his apparent naiveté of world affairs, that Roosevelt would intervene, but Roosevelt himself 
was backed by these same oil interests and Walter Teagle of Standard Oil of New Jersey 
and the NRA was on the board of Roosevelt's Warm Springs Foundation. So, in but one of 
many examples, we find the Rockefeller-controlled Vacuum Oil Company prominently 
assisting in the creation of Bolshevik Russia, the military build-up of Nazi Germany, and 
backing Roosevelt's New Deal. 


Is the United States Ruled by a Dictatorial Elite? 


Within the last decade or so, certainly since the 1960s, a steady flow of literature has 
presented a thesis that the United States is ruled by a self-perpetuating and unelected power 
elite. Even further, most of these books aver that this elite controls, or at the least heavily 
influences, all foreign and domestic policy decisions, and that no idea becomes respectable 
or is published in the United States without the tacit approval, or perhaps lack of 
disapproval, of this elitist circle. 


Obviously the very flow of anti-establishment literature by itself testifies that the United 
States cannot be wholly under the thumb of any single group or elite. On the other hand, 
anti-establishment literature is not fully recognized or reasonably discussed in academic or 
media circles. More often than not it consists of a limited edition, privately produced, 
almost hand-to-hand circulated. There are some exceptions, true; but not enough to dispute 
the observation that anti-establishment critics do not easily enter normal 
information/distribution channels. 


Whereas in the early and mid-1960s, any concept of rule by a conspiratorial elite, or indeed 
any kind of elite, was reason enough to dismiss the proponent out of hand as a "nut case," 
the atmosphere for such concepts has changed radically. The Watergate affair probably 


added the final touches to a long-developing environment of skepticism and doubt. We are 
almost at the point where anyone who accepts, for example, the Warren Commission report, 
or believes that that the decline and fall of Mr. Nixon did not have some conspiratorial 
aspects, is suspect. In brief, no one any longer really believes the Establishment information 
process. And there is a wide variety of alternative presentations of events now available for 
the curious. 


Several hundred books, from the full range of the political and philosophical spectrum, add 
bits and pieces of evidence, more hypotheses, and more accusations. What was not too long 
ago a kooky idea, talked about at midnight behind closed doors, in hushed and almost 
conspiratorial whispers, is now openly debated — not, to be sure, in Establishment 
newspapers but certainly on non-network radio talk shows, the underground press, and even 
from time to time in books from respectable Establishment publishing houses. 


So let us ask the question again: Is there an unelected power elite behind the U.S. 
Government? 


A substantive and often-cited source of information is Carroll Quigley, Professor of 
International Relations at Georgetown University, who in 1966 had published a 


monumental modern history entitled Tragedy and Hope.! Quigley's book is apart from 
others in this revisionist vein, by virtue of the fact that it was based on a two-year study of 
the internal documents of one of the power centers. Quigley traces the history of the power 
elite: 


... the powers of financial capitalism had another far reaching aim, nothing 
less than to create a world system of financial control in private hands able to 
dominate the political system of each country and the economy of the world as 
a whole. 


Quigley also demonstrates that the Council on Foreign Relations, the National Planning 
Association, and other groups are "semi-secret" policy-making bodies under the control of 
this power elite. 


In the following tabular presentation we have listed five such revisionist books, including 
Quigley's. Their essential theses and compatibility with the three volumes of the "Wall 
Street" series are summarized. It is surprising that in the three major historical events noted, 
Carroll Quigley is not at all consistent with the "Wall Street" series evidence. Quigley goes 
a long way to provide evidence for the existence of the power elite, but does not penetrate 
the operations of the elite. 


Possibly, the papers used by Quigley had been vetted, and did not include documentation on 
elitist manipulation of such events as the Bolshevik Revolution, Hitler's accession to power, 
and the election of Roosevelt in 1933. More likely, these political manipulations may not be 
recorded at all in the files of the power groups. They may have been unrecorded actions by 
a small ad hoc segment of the elite. It is noteworthy that the documents used by this author 
came from government sources, recording the day-to-day actions of Trotsky, Lenin, 
Roosevelt, Hitler, J.P. Morgan and the various firms and banks involved. 


On the other hand, such authors as Jules Archer, Gary Allen, Helen P. Lasell, and William 
Domhoff, writing from widely different political standpoints” are consistent with the "Wall 


Street" evidence. These writers present a hypothesis of a power elite manipulating the U.S. 
Government. The "Wall Street" series demonstrates how this hypothesized "power elite" 
has manipulated specific historical events. 


Obviously any such exercise of unconstrained and supra-legal power is unconstitutional, 
even though wrapped in the fabric of law-abiding actions. We can therefore legitimately 
raise the question of the existence of a subversive force operating to remove constitutionally 
guaranteed rights. 


The New York Elite as a Subversive Force 
Twentieth-century history, as recorded in Establishment textbooks and journals, is 


inaccurate. It is a history which is based solely upon those official documents which various 
Administrations have seen fit to release for public consumption. 


Table: IS THE EVIDENCE IN THE "WALL STREET" SERIES CONSISTENT WITH 
RELATED REVISIONIST ARGUMENTS PRESENTED ELSEWHERE? 








But an accurate history cannot be based on a selective release of documentary archives. 
Accuracy requires access to all documents. In practice, as previously classified documents 
in the U.S. State Department files, the British Foreign Office, and the German Foreign 
Ministry archives and other depositories are acquired, a new version of history has emerged; 
the prevailing Establishment version is seen to be, not only inaccurate, but designed to hide 
a pervasive fabric of deceit and immoral conduct. 


The center of political power, as authorized by the U.S. Constitution, is with an elected 
Congress and an elected President, working within the framework and under the constraints 
of a Constitution, as interpreted by an unbiased Supreme Court. We have in the past 
assumed that political power is consequently carefully exercised by the Executive and 
legislative branch, after due deliberation and assessment of the wishes of the electorate. In 
fact, nothing could be further from this assumption. The electorate has long suspected, but 
now knows, that political promises are worth nothing. Lies are the order of the day for 
policy implementors. Wars are started (and stopped) with no shred of coherent explanation. 
Political words have never matched political deeds. Why not? Apparently because the 
center of political power has been elsewhere than with elected and presumably responsive 
representatives in Washington, and this power elite has its own objectives, which are 
inconsistent with those of the public at large. 


In this three-volume series we have identified for three historical events the seat of political 
power in the United States — the power behind the scenes, the hidden influence on 
Washington — as that of the financial establishment in New York: the private international 
bankers, more specifically the financial houses of J.P. Morgan, the Rockefeller-controlled 
Chase Manhattan Bank, and in earlier days (before amalgamation of their Manhattan Bank 
with the former Chase Bank), the Warburgs. 


The United States has, in spite of the Constitution and its supposed constraints, become a 


quasi-totalitarian state. While we do not (yet) have. the overt trappings of dictatorship, the 
concentration camps and the knock on the door at midnight, we most certainly do have 
threats and actions aimed at the survival of non-Establishment critics, use of the Internal 
Revenue Service to bring dissidents in line, and manipulation of the Constitution by a court 
system that is politically subservient to the Establishment. 


It is in the pecuniary interests of the international bankers to centralize political power — 
and this centralization can best be achieved within a collectivist society, such as socialist 
Russia, national socialist Germany, or a Fabian socialist United States. 


There can be no full understanding and appreciation of twentieth-century American politics 
and foreign policy without the realization that this financial elite effectively monopolizes 
Washington policy. 


In case after case, newly released documentation implicates this elite and confirms this 
hypothesis. The revisionist versions of the entry of the United States into World Wars I and 
II, Korea, and Vietnam reveal the influence and objectives of this elite. 


For most of the twentieth century the Federal Reserve System, particularly the Federal 
Reserve Bank of New York (which is outside the control of Congress, unaudited and 
uncontrolled, with the power to print money and create credit at will), has exercised a 
virtual monopoly over the direction of the American economy. In foreign affairs the 
Council on Foreign Relations, superficially an innocent forum for academics, businessmen, 
and politicians, contains within its shell, perhaps unknown to many of its members, a power 
center that unilaterally determines U.S. foreign policy. The major objective of this 
submerged — and obviously subversive — foreign. policy is the acquisition of markets and 
economic power (profits, if you will), for a small group of giant multi-nationals under the 
virtual control of a few banking investment houses and controlling families. 


Through foundations controlled by this elite, research by compliant and spineless 
academics, "conservatives" as well as "liberals," has been directed into channels useful for 
the objectives of the elite essentially to maintain this subversive and unconstitutional power 
apparatus. 


Through publishing houses controlled by this same financial elite unwelcome books have 
been squashed and useful books promoted; fortunately publishing has few barriers to entry 
and is almost atomistically competitive. Through control of a dozen or so major 
newspapers, run by editors who think alike, public information can be almost orchestrated 
at will. Yesterday, the space program; today, an energy crisis or a campaign for ecology; 
tomorrow, a war in the Middle East or some other manufactured "crisis." 


The total result of this manipulation of society by the Establishment elite has been four 
major wars in sixty years, a crippling national debt, abandonment of the Constitution, 
suppression of freedom and opportunity, and creation of a vast credibility gulf between the 
man in the street and Washington, D.C. While the transparent device of two major parties 
trumpeting artificial differences, circus-like conventions, and the cliche of "bipartisan 
foreign policy" no longer carries credibility, and the financial elite itself recognizes that its 
policies lack public acceptance, it is obviously prepared to go it alone without even nominal 
public support. 


In brief, we now have to consider and debate whether this New York-based elitist 
Establishment is a subversive force operating with deliberation and knowledge to suppress 
the Constitution and a free society. That will be the task ahead in the next decade. 


The Slowly Emerging Revisionist Truth 


The arena for this debate and the basis for our charges of subversion is the evidence 
provided by the revisionist historian. Slowly, over decades, book by book, almost line by 
line, the truth of recent history has emerged as documents are released, probed, analyzed, 
and set within a more valid historical framework. 


Let us consider a few examples. American entry into World War II was supposedly 
precipitated, according to the Establishment version, by the Japanese attack on Pearl 
Harbor. Revisionists have established that Franklin D. Roosevelt and General Marshall 
knew of the impending Japanese attack and did nothing to warn the Pearl Harbor military 
authorities. The Establishment wanted war with Japan. Subsequently, the Establishment 
made certain that Congressional investigation of Pearl Harbor would fit the Roosevelt 
whitewash. In the words of Percy Greaves, chief research expert for the Republican 
minority on the Joint Congressional Committee investigating Pearl Harbor: 


The complete facts will never be known. Most of the so-called investigations 
have been attempts to suppress, mislead, or confuse those who seek the truth. 
From the beginning to the end, facts and files have been withheld so as to 
reveal only those items of information which benefit the administration under 
investigation. Those seeking the truth are told that other facts or documents 
cannot be revealed because they are intermingled in personal diaries, pertain 
to our relations with foreign countries, or are sworn to contain no information 
of value.3 


But this was not the first attempt to bring the United States into war, or the last. The 
Morgan interests, in concert with Winston Churchill, tried to bring the U.S. into World War 
I as early as 1915 and succeeded in doing so in 1917. Colin Thompson's Lusitania 
implicates President Woodrow Wilson in the sinking of the Lusitania — a horror device to 
generate a public backlash to draw the United States into war with Germany. Thompson 
demonstrates that Woodrow Wilson knew four darts beforehand that the Lusitania was 


carrying six-million rounds of ammunition plus explosives, and therefore, "passengers who 


proposed to sail on that vessel were sailing in violation of statute of this country."* 


The British Board of Inquiry under Lord Mersey was instructed by the British Government 
"that it is considered politically expedient that Captain Turner, the master of the Lusitania, 
be most prominently blamed for the disaster." 


In retrospect, given Colin Thompson's evidence, the blame is more fairly to be attributed to 
President Wilson, "Colonel" House, J.P. Morgan, and Winston Churchill; this conspiratorial 
elite should have been brought to trial for willful negligence, if not treason. It is to Lord 
Mersey's eternal credit that after performing his "duty" under instructions from His 
Majesty's government, and placing the blame on Captain Turner, he resigned, rejected his 
fee, and from that date on refused to handle British government commissions. To his friends 
Lord Mersey would only say about the Lusitania case that it was a "dirty business." 


Then in 1933-4 came the attempt by the Morgan firm to install a fascist dictatorship in the 
United States. In the words of Jules Archer, it was planned to be a Fascist putsch to take 
over the government and "run it under a dictator on behalf of America's bankers and 


industrialists."> Again, a single courageous individual emerged — General Smedley 
Darlington Butler, who blew the whistle on the Wall Street conspiracy. And once again 
Congress stands out, particularly Congressmen Dickstein and MacCormack, by its gutless 
refusal to do no more than conduct a token whitewash investigation. 


Since World War II we have seen the Korean War and the Vietnamese War — meaningless, 
meandering no-win wars costly in dollars and lives, with no other major purpose but to 
generate multibillion-dollar armaments contracts. Certainly these wars were not fought to 
restrain communism, because for fifty years the Establishment has been nurturing and 
subsidizing the Soviet Union which supplied armaments to the other sides in both wars — 
Korea and Vietnam. So our revisionist history will show that the United States directly or 
indirectly armed both sides in at least Korea and Vietnam. 


In the assassination of President Kennedy, to take a domestic example, it is difficult to find 
anyone who today accepts the findings of the Warren Commission — except perhaps the 
members of that Commission. Yet key evidence is still hidden from public eyes for 50 to 75 
years. The Watergate affair demonstrated even to the man in the street that the White House 
can be a vicious nest of intrigue and deception. 


Of all recent history the story of Operation Keelhaul® is perhaps the most disgusting. 
Operation Keelhaul was the forced repatriation of millions of Russians at the orders of 
President (then General) Dwight D. Eisenhower, in direct violation of the Geneva 
Convention of 1929 and the long-standing American tradition of political refuge. Operation 
Keelhaul, which contravenes all our ideas of elementary decency and individual freedom, 
was undertaken at the direct orders of General Eisenhower and, we may now presume, was 
a part of a long-range program of nurturing collectivism, whether it be Soviet communism’ 
Hitler's Naziism, or FDR's New Deal. Yet until recent publication of documentary evidence 
by Julius Epstein, anyone who dared to suggest Eisenhower would betray millions of 


innocent individuals for political purposes was viciously and mercilessly attacked.” 


What this revisionist history really teaches us is that our willingness as individual citizens to 
surrender political power to an elite has cost the world approximately two-hundred-million 
persons killed from 1820 to 1975. Add to that untold misery the concentration camps, the 
political prisoners, the suppression and oppression of those who try to bring the truth to 
light. 


When will it all stop? It will not stop until we act upon one simple axiom: that the power 
system continues only so long as individuals want it to continue, and it will continue only so 
long as individuals try to get something for nothing. The day when a majority of individuals 
declares or acts as if it wants nothing from government, declares it will look after its own 
welfare and interests, then on that day power elites are doomed. The attraction to "go along" 
with power elites is the attraction of something for nothing. That is the bait. The 
Establishment always offers something for nothing; but the something is taken from 
someone else, as taxes or plunder, and awarded elsewhere in exchange for political support. 


Periodic crises and wars are used to whip up support for other plunder-reward cycles which 
in effect tighten the noose around our individual liberties. And of course we have hordes of 


academic sponges, amoral businessmen, and just plain hangers-on, to act as non-productive 
recipients for the plunder. 


Stop the circle of plunder and immoral reward and elitist structures collapse. But not until a 
majority finds the moral courage and the internal fortitude to reject the something-for- 
nothing con game and replace it by voluntary associations, voluntary communes, or local 
rule and decentralized societies, will the killing and the plunder cease. 


Footnotes: 
‘Carroll Quigley, Tragedy and Hope, op. cit. 


There are many others; the author selected more or less at random two 
conservatives (Allen and Lasell) and two liberals (Archer and Domhoff), 


3Percy L. Greaves, Jr., "The Pearl Harbor Investigation," in Harry Elmer 
Harnes, Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace, (Caldwell: Caxton Printers, 1953), 
p, 13-20. 


Colin Simpson, Lusitania, (London: Longman, 1972), p, 252. 


SJules Archer, The Plot to Seize the White House, (New York: Hawthorn Book, 
1973), p. 202. 


6See Julius Epstein, Operation Keelhaul, (Old Greenwich: Devin Adair, 1973). 


7See for example Robert Welch, The Politician, (Belmont, Mass.: Belmont 
Publishing Co., 1963). 


BACK 


APPENDIX A 


Program of the National 
Socialist German Workers Party 


Note: This program is important because it demonstrates that the nature of Naziism was 
known publicly as early as 1920. 


THE PROGRAM 


The program of the German Workers' Party is limited as to period. The leaders have no 
intention, once the aims announced in it have been achieved, of setting up fresh ones, 
merely in order to increase the discontent of the masses artificially, and so ensure the 
continued existence of the Party. 


1. We demand the union of all Germans to form a Great Germany on the basis of the right 
of the self-determination enjoyed by nations. 


2. We demand equality of rights for the German People in its dealings with other nations, 
and abolition of the Peace Treaties of Versailles and St. Germain. 


3. We demand land and territory (colonies) for the nourishment of our people and for 
settling our superfluous population. 


4. None but members of the nation may be citizens of the State. None but those of German 
blood, whatever their creed, may be members of the nation. No Jew, therefore, may be a 
member of the nation. 


5. Any one who is not a citizen of the State may live in Germany only as a guest and must 
be regarded as being subject to foreign laws. 


6. The right of voting on the State's government and legislation is to be enjoyed by the 
citizen of the State alone. We demand therefore that all official appointments, of whatever 
kind, whether in the Reich, in the country, or in the smaller localities, shall be granted to 
citizens of the State alone. 


We oppose the corrupting custom of Parliament of filling posts merely with a view to party 
considerations, and without reference to character or capability. 


7. We demand that the State shall make it its first duty to promote the industry and 
livelihood of citizens of the State. If it is not possible to nourish the entire population of the 
State, foreign nationals (non-citizens of the State) must be excluded from the Reich. 


8. All non-German immigration must be prevented. We demand that all non-Germans, who 
entered Germany subsequent to August 2nd, 1914, shall be required forthwith to depart 


from the Reich. 
9. All citizens of the State shall be equal as regards rights and duties. 


10. It must be the first duty of each citizen of the State to work with his mind or with his 
body. The activities of the individual may not clash with the interests of the whole, but must 
proceed within the frame of the community and be for the general good. 


We demand therefore: 


11, Abolition of incomes unearned by work. 


ABOLITION OF THE THRALDOM OF INTEREST 


12. In view of the enormous sacrifice of life and property demanded of a nation by every 
war, personal enrichment due to a war must be regarded as a crime against the nation. We 
demand therefore ruthless confiscation of all war gains, 


13. We demand nationalisation of all businesses which have been up to the present formed 
into companies (Trusts). 


14. We demand that the profits from wholesale trade shall be shared out. 
15. We demand extensive development of provision for old age. 


16. We demand creation and maintenance of a healthy middle class, immediate 
communalisation of wholesale business premises, and their lease at a cheap rate to small 
traders, and that extreme consideration shall be shown to all small purveyors to the State, 
district authorities and smaller localities. 


17. We demand land-reform suitable to our national requirements, passing of a law for 
confiscation without compensation of land for communal purposes; abolition of interest on 
land loans, and prevention of all speculation in land. 


18. We demand ruthless prosecution of those whose activities are injurious to the common 
interest. Sordid criminals against the nation, usurers, profiteers, etc. must be punished with 
death, whatever their creed or race. 


19. We demand that the Roman Law, which serves the materialistic world order, shall be 
replaced by a legal system for all Germany. 


20. With the aim of opening to every capable and industrious German the possibility of 
higher education and of thus obtaining advancement, the State must consider a thorough re- 
construction of our national system of education. The curriculum of all educational 
establishments must be brought into line with the requirements of practical life. 
Comprehension of the State idea (State sociology) must be the school objective, beginning 
with the first dawn of intelligence in the pupil. We demand development of the gifted 
children of poor parents, whatever their class or occupation, at the expense of the State. 


21. The State must see to raising the standard of health in the nation by protecting mothers 
and infants, prohibiting child labour, increasing bodily efficiency by obligatory gymnastics 
and sports laid down by law, and by extensive support of clubs engaged in the bodily 
development of the young. 


22. We demand abolition of a paid army and formation of a national army. 


23. We demand legal warfare against conscious political lying and its dissemination in the 
Press. In order to facilitate creation of a German national Press we demand: 


(a) that all editors of newspapers and their assistants, employing the German language, must 
be members of the nation; 


(b) that special permission from the State shall be necessary before non-German newspapers 
may appear. These are not necessarily printed in the German language; 


(c) that non-Germans shall be prohibited by law from participating financially in or 
influencing German newspapers, and that the penalty for contravention of the law shall be 
suppression of any such newspaper, and immediate deportation of the non-German 
concerned in it. 


It must be forbidden to publish papers which do not conduce to the national welfare. We 
demand legal prosecution of all tendencies in art and literature of a kind likely to 
disintegrate our life as a nation, and the suppression of institutions which militate against 
the requirements above-mentioned. 


24. We demand liberty for all religious denominations in the State, so far as they are not a 
danger to it and do not militate against the moral feelings of the German race. 


The Party, as such, stands for positive Christianity, but does not bind itself in the matter of 
creed to any particular confession. It combats the Jewish-materialist spirit within us and 
without us, and is convinced that our nation can only achieve permanent health from within 
on the principle: 


THE COMMON INTEREST BEFORE SELF 


25. That all the foregoing may be realised we demand the creation of a strong central power 
of the State. Unquestioned authority of the politically centralised Parliament over the entire 
Reich and its organisation; and formation of Chambers for classes and occupations for the 
purpose of carrying out the general laws promulgated by the Reich in the various States of 
the confederation. 


The leaders of the Party swear to go straight forward — if necessary to sacrifice their lives 
— in securing fulfillment of the foregoing Points. 


Munich, February 24th, 1920. 


Source: Official English translation by E. Dugdale, reprinted from Kurt G, W. 
Ludecke, J Knew Hitler (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1937), 


BACK 


APPENDIX B 


Affidavit of Hjalmar Schacht 


I, Dr. Hjalmar Schacht, after having been warned that I will be liable to punishment for 
making false statements, state herewith under oath, of my own free will and without 
coercion, the following: 


The amounts contributed by the participants in the meeting of 20 February 1933 at 
Goering's house were paid by them to the bankers. Delbruck, Schickler & Co., Berlin, to the 
credit of an account "Nationale Treuhand" (which may be translated as National 
Trusteeship). It was arranged that I was entitled to dispose of this account, which I 
administered as a trustee, and that in case of my death, or that in case the trusteeship should 
be terminated in any other way, Rudolf Hess should be entitled to dispose of the account. 


I disposed of the amounts of this account by writing out checks to Mr. Hess. I do not know 
what Mr. Hess actually did with the money. 


On 4 April 1933, I closed the account with Delbruck, Schickler & Co. and had the balance 
transferred to the "Account Ic" with the Reichsbank which read in my name. Later on I was 
ordered directly by Hitler, who was authorized by the assembly of 20 February 1933 to 
dispose of the amounts collected, or through Hess, his deputy, to pay the balance of about 
600,000 marks to Ribbentrop. 


I have carefully read this affidavit (one page) and have signed it. I have made the necessary 
corrections in my own handwriting and initialed each correction in the margin of the page. I 
declare herewith under oath that I have stated the full truth to the best of my knowledge and 
belief. 


(Signed) Dr. Hjalmar Schacht 


12 August 1947 


In a subsequent affidavit of 18 August 1947 (N1-9764, Pros. Ex 54), Schacht declared the 
following with regard to the above interrogation: "I made all of the statements appearing in 
this interrogation to Clifford Hyanning, a financial investigator of the American Forces of 
my own free will and without coercion. I have reread this interrogation today and can state 
that all of the facts contained therein are true to my best knowledge and belief. I declare 
herewith under oath and I have stated the full truth to the best of my knowledge and belief." 


Source: Copy of Document Prosecution Exhibit 55. Trials of War 
Criminals before the Nuremburg Military Tribunals under Control 
Council Law No. 10, Nuremburg, October 1946-April 1949, 


Volume VII, I.G. Farben, (Washington: U.S. Government Printing 
Office, 1952). 


BACK 


APPENDIX C 


Entries in the "National Trusteeship" Account Found 
in the Files of the Delbruck, Schickler Co. Bank 


Feb. 23 


24 


24 


25 
25 
27 


27 


27 


28 


28 


Mar. 1 


NATIONAL TRUSTEESHIP 


REICHSBANK PRESIDENT DR. HJALMAR SCHACHT, 
BERLIN-ZEHLENDORF 


Debibk (Deutsche Bank Feb. 23 
Diskonto-Gesellschaft) 


Verein fuer die 
bergbaulichen Interessen, 


Essen 

Transfer to account 100,000.00 24 
Rudolf Hess, at present 

in Berlin 

Karl Herrmann 25 
Automobile Exhibition, 25 
Berlin 

Director A. Steinke 27 
Demag A.G., Duisberg 27 
Telefunken Gesellschaft 28 
ruer draht lose 

Telegraphie Berlin 

Osram G.m.b.H., Berlin 28 
Bayerische Hypotheken- 100,000.00 28 
und Wech selbank, 


branch office Munich, 
Kauflingerstr. In favor of 
Verlag Franz Eher 
Nachf, Munich 


Transfer to account 100,000.00 27 
Rudolf Hess, Berlin 


I.G. Farbenindustrie Mar. 1 
A.G. Frankfurt/M 


Telegraph expenses for 8.00 Feb. 28 
transfer to Munich 


Your Payment Mar. 2 


Telegr. transfer to 


200,000.00 


150,000.00 
100,000.00 


200,000.00 
50,000.00 
85,000.00 


40,000.00 


400,000.00 


125,000.00 


Mar. 8 


Bayerische Hypotheken- 


und Wechselbank, 

Munich branch office, 

Bayerstr. 

for account Josef Jung 400,000.00 
Telegr. transfer expenses 23.00 


Account transfer Rudolf 
Hess 300,000.00 


Reimbursement from 
Director Karl Lange, 
Berlin 


Reimbursement from 
Dir. Karl Lange, 
'Maschinen-industrie' 
Account 


Reimbursement from 
Verein ruer die 
bergbaulichen Interessen, 
Essen 


Reimbursement from 
Karl Herrmann, Berlin, 
Dessauerstr. 28/9 


Reimbursement from 
Allgemeine 
Elektrizitaetsgesellschaft, 
Berlin 


Reimbursement from 
General-direktor Dr. F. 
Springorum, Dortmund 


Reichsbank transfer: 


Bayerische Hypotheken- 

und Wechselbank, 

branch office 

Kauffingerstr. 100,000.00 
1,100,031.00 
1,100,031.00 


Bayerische Hypotheken- 100,000.00 
und Wechselbank, 

Munich, branch office 

Bayerstr. 


4 


4 


oo 


Mar. 


30,000.00 


20,000.00 


100,000.00 


150,000.00 


60,000.00 


36,000.00 


1,696,000.00 
1,696,000.00 


10 


13 


14 


29 


April 


Transfer to account 
Rudolf Hess 


Accumulatoren-Fabrik 
A.G. Berlin 


Verein f.d. bergbaulichen 
Interessen, Essen 


Reimbursement Rudolf 
Hess 


Reimbursement Rudolf 
Hess 


Commerz-und 
Privatbank Dep. Kasse 
N. Berlin W.9 
Potsdamerstr. 1 f. 
Special 


Account S 29 


Interests according to list 
1 


percent 
Phone bills 
Postage 
Balance 


Balance carried over 


250,000.00 


200,000.00 


200,000.00 


99,000.00 


1.00 

2.50 
72,370.00 
2,021,404.50 


BACK 


11 


14 


14 


29 


Apr. 4 


25,000.00 


300,000.00 


404.50 


2,021,404.50 
72,370.00 


APPENDIX D 


Letter from U.S. War Department to Ethyl Corporation 


December 15, 1934 
Exhibit No, 144 
(Handwritten) Mr, Webb sent copies for other Directors 


Copy to: Mr. Alfred P. Sloan, Jr., General Motors Corp,, New York City, Mr. Donaldson 
Brown, General Motors Corp., New York City. 


December 15, 1934. 
Mr. E. W. Webb, 


President Ethyl Gasoline Corporation, 185 E, 42nd Street, New York City. Dear Mr. Webb: 
I learned through our Organic Chemicals Division today that the Ethyl Gasoline 
Corporation has in mind forming a German company with the I.G. to manufacture Ethyl 
lead in that country. 


I have just had two weeks in Washington, no inconsiderable part of which was devoted to 
criticising the interchanging with foreign companies of chemical knowledge which might 
have a military value. Such giving of information by an industrial company might have the 
gravest repercussions on it. The Ethyl Gasoline Corporation would be no exception, in fact, 
would probably be singled out for special attack because of the ownership of its stock. 


It should seem. on the face of it, that the quantity of Ethyl lead used for commercial 
purposes in Germany would be too small to go after. It has been claimed that Germany is 
secretly arming. Ethyl lead would doubtless be a valuable aid to military aeroplanes. 


I am writing you this to say that in my opinion under no conditions should you or the Board 
of Directors of the Ethyl Gasoline Corporation disclose any secrets or 'know how' in 
connection with the manufacture of tetraethyl lead to Germany. 

I am informed that you will be advised through the Dyestuffs Division of the necessity of 


disclosing the information which you have received from Germany to appropriate War 
Department officials. 


Yours very truly, 


Source: United States Senate, Hearings before a Subcommittee of the 


Committee on Military Affairs, Scientific and Technical Mobilization, 78th 
Congress, Second Session, Part 16, (Washington D.C.: Government Printing 
Office, 1944), p. 939. 


BACK 


APPENDIX E 


Extract from Morgenthau Diary (Germany) 
Regarding Sosthenes Behn of I.T.T. 


March 16, 1945 
11:30 a.m. 


GROUP MEETING 
Bretton Woods — I.T.&T. — Reparations 


Present: 
Mr. White 
Mr. Fussell 
Mr. Feltus 
Mr. Coe 
Mr. DuBois 
Mrs. Klotz 


H.M., Jr.: Frank, can you boil down this business on I.T.&T.? 


Mr. Coe: Yes, sir. I.T. &T. by the way did transfer or did get $15 million yesterday or a few 
days ago of their debts in dollars paid to them by the Spanish Government and that they are 
allowed to do under our general license, so that's all right. However, it is in part in their 
representation to us, part of a deal for the sale of the company in Spain, so they are trying 
thereby to force our hand. Now, the proposition which they have had up over some years in 
different forms now takes this form. They can get their receivables paid off in dollars, 
which they say they have not been able to do hitherto — either $15 million now and $10 
million or $11 million later. They will sell the company to Spain and take in return $30 
million worth of bonds — Spanish Government bonds — which are to be amortized over a 
number of years and roughly at the rate of $2 million per annum, and they are to receive 
90% of those exports in order to amortize bonds faster, if they are to export it to the United 
States. 


H. M. Jr.: Like the match dealer I mentioned in my speech. 


Mr. Coe: That's right. The Spanish Government. They are willing, they say — they are able 
to get from the Spanish Government assurances, that these will not be, that the shares which 
the Spanish Government intends to resell will not go to anybody on the black list, and so 
forth. In some negotiations we have had with them over the last few weeks, they have been 
willing to come further on that. Our hesitation on the matter relates to two things; First, that 
you can't trust Franco, and that if they are able — if Franco is able to sell $50 million worth 
of shares Of this company in Spain in the next period of time, he may very well sell it to 
pro-German interests. It seems doubtful that he would be able to dispose of it to the 
Spaniards, so that is the first thing. The second thing we can't document too well, but I think 
it is more pronounced in my mind than in the minds of the Foreign Funds and legal people. 


I don't think we can really trust Behn either. 
Mr. White: I'm sure you can't. 


Mr. Coe: We have records here of interviews, going far back, that some of your men had 
with Behn — Klaus was one — in which Behn said that he had had conversations with 
Goering with the proposition that Goering was to hold I.T. &T.'s property in Germany, and 
as you recall, I.T. &T. here did try to purchase General Aniline and make it an American 
company thereby and that was part of the deal which Behn told State and our lawyers very 
frankly he had discussed. He thought it was perfectly all right protecting property: That was 
before we entered the war, 


H. M., Jr.: I don't remember that, 


Mr. Coe: The man in charge of their properties now is Westrick who you recall came over 
here and was mixed up with Texaco. They tried in every way to cook up deals earlier to 
escape. They are tied up with top German group and etc. On the other hand, Colonel Behn 
has been used several times as an emissary by the State Department, and I believe he is 
personally on very good terms with Stettinius. We have heard from State on this letter 
saying they have no objections. We proposed to you earlier — the letter which I sent in to 
you suggesting that you ask State, if in view of our safe haven objectives, they still said yes. 
I am confident from talking with them on the phone the last day or two, they will write back 
and say yes, they still think it is a good deal. 


H. M., Jr.: This is the position I am in. As you gentlemen know I am overextended now and 
I can't go into this thing personally, and I think that we are just going to have to throw the 
thing in the lap of the State Department, and if they want to clear it, all right. I just haven't 
got the time or the energy to fight them on that basis. 


Mr. Coe: Then we ought to license it now. 


Mr. White: First you ought to get a letter. I agree with the Secretary on this point of view 
that this fellow Behn is not to be trusted around the corner. There is something about this 
deal that looks suspicious and has been for the last couple of years we have been dealing 
with him. However, it is one thing to believe that and another thing to defend that before the 
pressure that will be brought in here that they are trying to deprive this company of the 
business deal, but I think that what we might do is get the State Department on record that 
in view of a safe haven project they don't think that there is any danger that any of these 
assets — I would cite some of them, spell the letter out. Get them down on record and even 
make them a little frightened and hold out or they will at least have had the record and you 
will have called their attention to these dangers. This fellow Behn hates our guts anyway. 
We have been standing between him and deals for 4 years, at least. 


H. M., Jr.: Follow what White said. Something along that line. "Dear Mr, Stettinius; I am 
bothered about these things due to the following facts, and I would like you to advise me 
whether we should or should not .... " 


Mr. White: "In view of the danger that German assets may be cloaked here, the future —" 
and let him come back and say, "No," and we'll watch him. 


Mr. Coe: We said we wanted to give Acheson something Monday. 


H. M., Jr.: And if you get that ready for me by tomorrow morning, I'll sign it. Mr. Coe: 
O.K. 


Source: United States Senate, Subcommittee to Investigate the Administration 
of the Internal Security Act. Committee on the Judiciary, Morgenthau Diarty 
(Germany), Volume 1, 90th Congress, Ist Session, November 20, 1967, 
(Washington D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1967), p. 320 of Book 
828. (Page 976 of U,S. Senate print.) 


Note: "Mr. White" is Harry Dexter White. "Dr. Dubois" is Josiah E. Dubois, 
Jr., author of the book, Generals in Grey Suits (London: The Bodley Head, 
1953). "H.M., Jr." is Henry Morgenthau, Jr., Secretary of the Treasury. 


This memorandum is important because it accuses Sosthenes Behn of 
attempting to make behind-the-scenes deals in Nazi Germany "for 4 years, at 
least" — i.e. while the rest of the U.S. was at war, Behn and his friends were 
still doing business as usual with Germany. This memorandum supports the 
evidence presented in Chapters Five and Nine concerning the influence of 
LT.T. in the Himmler inner circle and adds Herman Goering to the list of I T T. 
contacts. 


BACK 


SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY 
Allen, Gary. None Dare Call It Conspiray. Seal Beach, California: Concord 
Press, 1971. 


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